Operation Smile

About Operation Smile

Operation Smile is an international medical aid organization that performs free surgeries on children and adults with cleft lip and palate and other surgical needs.

Our vision is a future where all people have access to safe surgery that improves health and quality of life. Through our experience and expertise, founded in cleft lip and palate, we have a broad and solid knowledge of the solutions required to increase access to safe surgery for the people who need it most.

Education and long-term perspective

Two-thirds of the world's population, five billion people, lack access to safe surgical care. This shortage results in 17 million deaths each year. The only sustainable and long-term solution is education and strengthening and building capacity in countries where the need is greatest. Since 1982, Operation Smile has worked to bridge the gap and increase access to surgical care in countries and regions where the need is greater than the resources. An estimated 143 million more surgeries are needed each year, and to meet the enormous global need for healthcare, more surgeons, doctors and other healthcare professionals need to be trained. Our long-term investments in education and knowledge exchange build capacity in the countries where we operate.

Strengthened capacity in Rwanda

As of the end of 2022, Rwanda, a country of 14 million people, had only two plastic surgeons. The shortage of plastic surgeons has meant that patients with cleft lip, cleft palate, traffic injuries, tumors, and burns have been unable to have surgery at all, or have been forced to wait years for one.

As part of our work to increase access to safe surgery, Operation Smile has established a specialist training program for plastic surgeons in collaboration with the University of Rwanda and the Rwandan Ministry of Health. The goal is to increase access to reconstructive surgery and strengthen capacity in Rwanda and neighboring countries.

When the first class of the program graduated in December 2022, the number of plastic surgeons in Rwanda increased by 150 percent. At the same time, the country reached an important historical milestone when it received its first female plastic surgeon.

"With support from the IDUNA Stiftung, the training is now offered as a permanent part of the national curriculum, a crucial contribution to steadily increasing the number of plastic surgeons and making the country self-sufficient in reconstructive plastic surgery. Together with the IDUNA Stiftung, we work for everyone's right to surgical care."