Building capacity Dr Ampomah has taken part in over 25 surgical programmes, but importantly he has also been instrumental in…
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Inspiring stories
Explore Stories
Love for their daughter But she was also born with an inner strength and courage that would guide her as…
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Changing a child’s life While it has been over a decade since her first surgery with the organization, Laura’s family…
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Meet some of our patients who received care during our first surgical programme in Mzuzu, Malawi.
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Facing starvation – a life in the balance Afia was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate. Her condition…
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Medical volunteers from Malawi, Kenya, Ethiopia and the UK came together to provide exceptional care to over 40 children in Mzuzu, in the Northern Region of Malawi.
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After loving and raising three daughters together, Nioti and her husband, Monbula, remained hopeful that they would finally welcome a son into their family.
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A deeper feeling of significance emerged as volunteers arrived in Cebu City, Philippines. Not only was the devoted medical team…
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The lives of Yaniris and Jonathan turned upside down after their son, Jose Luis, was born.
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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.
