For 11 years, Dayana’s mum Eluvia couldn’t answer her daughter’s question, “When am I going to get the surgery?”
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For Brandon’s parents, Emma and Victor, excitement turned to overwhelming surprise and sadness when doctors informed them of their son’s…
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In March 2023, volunteers, staff, donors, patients and their families gathered together to celebrate the grand opening of the Bill…
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While there are thousands of people in Guatemala living with untreated cleft conditions, there is also a total of 5 million people in need of cleft care globally.
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For far too many families of children born with a cleft condition, they encounter obstacles trying to discover where to go for help. But through having people like Paola Arroyave by their side, parents living in Guatemala have a direct line to Operation Smile.
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Inspiring stories of adversity and resilience of three families in Guatemala whose lives were changed by Operation Smile.
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In Guatemala, where one in every two children suffers from chronic malnutrition, Monica Arredondo’s lifelong passion is not only saving lives but helping alleviate a need in the country she loves.
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Ethan had a tough start in life. Born two months earlier with a cleft lip, he had to fight for his life.
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Programme updates
Find out how our surgical programmes are strengthening local health systems and training the next generation of medical leaders.
Training anaesthetists in Rwanda
Anaesthesia is vital to the delivery of safe surgery, but there is a dramatic shortage of trained anaesthetists in Rwanda. In this densely populated country, 11.9 million people are served by just 15 anaesthetists and anaesthesiologists.
Dr Paulin Banguti is working to fill this void – he’s director of the post-graduate anaesthesia programme at the University of Rwanda. During the March 2016 Operation Smile surgical training rotation at Rwinkwavu District Hospital, he led a group of anaesthesia residents to observe and learn from volunteer anaesthesiologists from around the world.
Strengthening health systems in Malawi
To enable Operation Smile to serve and treat more people living with cleft conditions, we focus on increasing the surgical capacity of low-and middle-income countries like Malawi so that cleft care for local people can continue, even after a surgical programme ends.
Operation Smile Malawi has worked to encourage and educate local surgeons, doctors and nurses, and now has nearly 50 percent of its medical volunteers from Malawi. Surgical training rotations train and empower local surgeons to help their own communities and strengthen health systems for the future.
