Quick Facts Smile

• Operation Smile Mission in Kenya is part of a global alliance of Operation Smile Foundations and Resource Chapters dedicated to providing free treatment to children and adults suffering from cleft lips and cleft palates.
  
  
• It takes as little as 45 minutes to repair a cleft lip.
  
  
• A cleft lip surgery costs approximately U.S. $ 240 (KSH 25,000).
  
  
• Approximately 1 in every 500 to 700 Kenyan children is born with a cleft lip and/or cleft palate.
  
  
• 1 in 10 children die before age 1 as a consequence of malnutrition and/or infections..
  
  
• Children with facial deformities who do not receive reconstructive surgery often have difficulty breathing, drinking, eating and speaking. As a result, many suffer from malnutrition, medical and psychological problems.
  
  
• Since Operation Smile’s first mission to Kenya in 1987, volunteers have provided performed life-changing surgery to more than 8000 children.
  
  
• Operation Smile Kenya was established in 1987 but was registered as an NGO in 1995 under the name Operation Smile Mission in Kenya, operating with a local Board of Directors & Medical Advisory Council.
  
  
• Operation Smile Mission in Kenya medical volunteers have participated on international medical missions to Brazil, China, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Jordan, Peru, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Swaziland and Vietnam.
  
  
• Operation Smile, headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, is a worldwide children’s medical charity. In 1982, Operation Smile was founded by Dr. William P. Magee Jr., a plastic surgeon, and his wife, Kathleen S. Magee, a nurse and clinical social worker.
  
  
• Since 1982, more than 120,000 children and young adults with cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities have been treated by thousands of volunteers worldwide and thousands of medical professionals have been trained globally.
  
  
• Operation Smile was launched after its first mission to the Philippines in 1982. Operation Smile currently has a presence in more than 60 countries.