GIFT A SMILE FOR LIFE
OVER 18,000
SMILES GIFTED
Operation Cleft has changed the lives of many underprivileged children in Bangladesh since its inception in 2005. By providing these children with the opportunity to receive life-altering, free cleft lip and cleft palate repair surgery they need for a brighter future and the Gift of a Smile for Life.
OUR MISSION
1,500+ FREE CLEFT REPAIR SURGERIES EACH YEAR
Operation Cleft Australia is an international humanitarian project of the Rotary Club of Box Hill Central, Victoria. Operation Cleft Australia’s mission is together with partner DCKH to provide more than 1500 free, cleft repair surgeries each year to underprivileged children in Bangladesh– enabling them to live normal and meaningful lives and contribute to building their nation.
$30 A MONTH
YOU CAN BECOME A SMILE DONOR
With the generous support of our team of Bangladeshi surgeons and the hospitals at which they operate, Operation Cleft can keep the cost of cleft repair surgery to the minimum of AUD$350 per operation. For just $30 a month for one year – less than $1.50 a day – you too can give an underprivileged child in Bangladesh the “Gift of a Smile for Life.”
EVERY FACE TELLS A STORY
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A simple solution to a serious problem
Operation Cleft Australia is committed to improving the lives of underprivileged children in Bangladesh, by providing free cleft lip and palate repair surgery to those born with this condition.
Many young families in Bangladesh live on or below the poverty line – less than US$2 a day. They lead simple, village lives, where everything revolves around the extended family group. More than 5,000 babies are born with cleft lip and/or palate conditions each year in Bangladesh. These babies are often sickly and malnourished due to feeding problems.
If these cleft conditions are left untreated, these children will suffer both physically and emotionally, and they face a life of torment, poor health, isolation, and illiteracy. Frequently both children and their families are ostracised by their communities, and many family units break down due to the stress and peer pressure.
Sadly 12% of babies born with clefts and whose clefts are not repaired die before the age of five.
Since 2005, Operation Cleft Australia, an international humanitarian project of the Rotary Club of Box Hill Central, Victoria, has provided around 1500 free cleft repair surgeries annually to the underprivileged in Bangladesh. Our objective in going forward with this program is to:
- Increase the number of surgeries we can provide annually
- Increase the number of surgeons operating for us
- Broaden the geographical spread of surgical camps across Bangladesh
- Assist in the development of newly established plastic surgery units in provincial cities
- Encourage sustainability
- Encourage the development of plastic surgery training programs across Bangladesh
With each cleft repair operation conducted in surgical camps throughout Bangladesh by top Bangladeshi plastic surgeons,
a child and his or her family now have the opportunity to lead a normal life, and the child has an opportunity to receive an education, build a social network and to reach his or her full potential as a contributing member of their community.
Operation Cleft Australia’s mission is to continue to provide these free, life-altering surgeries to those in Bangladesh most in need.