Why Clefts?
Many children around the world are living with untreated clefts, which can make eating, breathing, hearing, speaking, and even going to school and making friends a constant struggle.
Stats
Every 3 Minutes
a baby is born with a cleft.
$20B
in global economic impact achieved as a result of cleft treatment.
45
minutes can change a child’s life forever.
Give Every Child the Chance to Smile
Since 1999, Smile Train has supported more cleft surgeries than all other global charities combined. Smile Train has always championed partnering directly with local hospitals to strengthen regional health systems and empower local medical professionals to offer cleft surgery and other forms of essential care to children in their own communities for free.
Why does Smile Train focus on clefts?
Instead of doing a little bit of this and a little bit of that like many charities, Smile Train decided to choose one specific problem that affects children and try to solve it. We chose clefts because:
- By focusing on this single, solvable problem, we can be much more effective and productive, resulting in greater impact.
- Clefts are a serious medical condition affecting the lives of millions of people globally.
- Cleft treatment is safe, effective, and lifesaving when people have access to it.
- The impact of cleft surgery is dramatic, immediate, and permanent! This is one of the best low-cost, high impact interventions in the world - a true modern-day medical miracle that changes a child’s life forever.
- Children who have received cleft treatment from our partners feel inspired to pursue their dreams because their every smile is a reminder that anything is possible.
Your Efforts in Action
