But there is more to do.
During Fiscal Year July 2025-June 2026, Operation Smile will invest $822,900 to provide surgery for nearly 300 patients and train nearly 500 health workers.
Cleft Programs
This year, Operation Smile will provide surgical care for nearly 300 patients. Operation Smile will expand comprehensive care services, ensuring that patients have access to high-quality multidisciplinary services before and after cleft surgery. We will deliver consultations in oral health (∼420 patients), speech therapy (∼150 patients), nutrition (∼110 patients) and psychosocial care (∼70 patients).
Education Programs
Operation Smile will provide training and education opportunities for nearly 500 medical providers in the fields of surgery, anesthesiology, nursing, pediatrics, psychology, oral health, speech care, ear, nose and throat care, biomedical technology, psychosocial care and nutrition. Operation Smile Brazil will host Visiting Professorships through our partnerships with leading universities. This program provides distinguished educators with the unique opportunity to share their expertise with residents and medical students, inspiring the next generation of providers. In collaboration with the American Heart Association, we will also deliver Basic Life Support and Pediatric Advanced Life Support courses.
THE NEED
Backlog of 340,000 patients. In Brazil, it is estimated that there is a backlog of 340,000 patients living with untreated cleft conditions.
Health care access limited despite spending. Brazil has one of the lowest proportions of public spending on health (46%) in Latin America and the Caribbean (average 51%), in upper-middle-income countries (55%) and in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries (62%). Limited government spending on health in Brazil results in inadequate funding for essential medical services, including cleft surgery.
Financial burden. Despite making significant progress towards achieving Universal Health Coverage. Brazil continues to face shortages in public funding and challenges in health care delivery. Out-of-pocket expenses often prevent families from accessing the treatment that they need. As a result, 13% of the population is at risk of impoverishing expenditure for surgical care, while 15% faces catastrophic expenditure in case of surgical care.
Unequal access to care. Unequal access to health care in Brazil puts children living with cleft conditions at an even greater risk. With one doctor per 1,000 individuals, the North Region has the lowest number of medical providers. Brazilians living in the North Region also face the greatest disparity between availability of doctors in large and medium cities (2.5/1,000) compared to rural areas (0.4/1,000).
BRINGING CARE CLOSER TO HOME
To ensure that every child has access to care close to home, we equip the providers within our patients’ communities with skills and resources to deliver high-quality care. We strengthen health system capacity by harnessing the talent and resources concentrated in larger cities, the hubs, to train providers in under-resourced areas, the spokes, where access to care is most limited.
In Brazil, our hubs are in Rio de Janeiro, Natal and Porto Velho.
The spokes are located in Santarém, Porto Velho and Natal.
FIVE-YEAR VISION
Over the next five years, Operation Smile will provide surgeries for over 2,270 patients and deliver consultations for approximately 8,925 patients. We will increase access to cleft surgery and comprehensive care for patients living in the north and northeast of the country by expanding our direct patient care programs and providing education and training opportunities for medical professionals.
Operation Smile will partner with universities in Porto Velho, Santarém and Cariri to provide education in dentistry, speech therapy, nursing, pediatrics, nutrition and psychology. A new teaching hub will be developed in Rio de Janeiro. In addition, infrastructure will be upgraded in five hospitals across Brazil, and three new spokes will be established.
Operation Smile will lead a coalition to advocate for the passing of a bill that mandates the public health care system to provide reconstructive plastic surgery for patients affected by cleft lip or cleft palate. We will support cleft research with Brazilian health professionals, enhancing knowledge and improving the quality of cleft care nationwide.
