Operation Smile in Guatemala continues to provide safe and comprehensive care for children born with cleft conditions. Our organization has provided care to around 1,640 patients.
THE NEED
Limited access to cleft surgery. The Lancet Commission on Global Surgery proposed that, to meet populations’ surgical needs, countries should provide 5,000 surgeries per 100,000 population. Guatemala falls short of this target, performing just 1,505 surgeries annually.
The Lancet Commission on Global Surgery suggests that at least 80% of a country’s population should be within two hours of a facility with essential surgery and anesthetic services. In Guatemala, according to Operation Smile’s survey, 43% of patients arriving at Operation Smile programs in Guatemala do not have a hospital within two hours of their home. Our survey revealed that 81% of patients arriving at Operation Smile programs in Guatemala could not have undergone surgery without the support of Operation Smile.
Surgical provider shortage. Guatemala has just one specialist surgical worker per 100,000 population, in stark contrast to the Lancet Commission’s minimum of 20 providers per 100,000 people.
Financial burdens. Out-of-pocket expenses often prevent families from accessing necessary treatment. 18% of the population is at risk of impoverishing expenditure for surgical care, while nearly 34% faces catastrophic expenditure in case of surgical care, which leaves patients in a greater situation of vulnerability.
59% of patients arriving at Operation Smile programs live below the poverty line and 91% have no health insurance. In addition, 34% of caretakers stay home with their child, creating an additional financial strain for families.
Persistent malnutrition. Guatemala’s relative economic stability has not resulted in income growth, with nearly half of the population living in poverty or below the upper-middle income poverty line.
Guatemala has the sixth-highest rate of chronic malnutrition in the world. 46% of all children under the age of five are affected by chronic childhood malnutrition and stunting, which puts patients with cleft conditions at an even higher risk.
OUR FORMULA FOR TRANSFORMATION
Operation Smile’s formula for transformational impact combines care delivery & capacity-building.
Education programs are at the center of Operation Smile’s strategy to increase access to surgery closer to the patient’s home.
Each surgical program brings together providers from all over the world for a unique opportunity to share knowledge and innovate. This type of bi-directional learning is essential to redistributing knowledge between providers and building capacity in the areas of greatest need.
HUB & SPOKES
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 build the needed capacity by harnessing the talent and resources that exist within the country, usually in the bigger cities (the hubs) to train providers in under-resourced areas (the spokes) where most patients lack access to care.
Hospital Juan Pablo II in Guatemala City serves as a hub where Operation Smile’s education partners and comprehensive care centre are located. The spokes are at Regional Hospital San Benito in Petén and the Regional Hospital in Escuintla. This year, Operation Smile will create a third spoke in the Eastern Region.
We have established a second comprehensive care center in San Andrés Petén to provide access to non-surgical care for patients living in the country’s north, an area where there is a high prevalence of cleft conditions.
During Fiscal Year July 2024-June 2025, Operation Smile Canada has committed to invest $1,503,481, accounting for 80% of Guatemala’s total projected budget for the fiscal year, which will directly contribute to providing cleft surgery for 320 patients and education and training for 270 health workers.
Cleft Care Programs
Operation Smile projects to deliver life-saving surgeries for 320 patients in Guatemala. We will expand comprehensive cleft care by providing consultations in oral health (1,740 patients), nutrition (1,740 patients), speech therapy (1,500 patients), pediatrics (1,740 patients) and psychosocial care (1,500 patients).
Education
Operation Smile will empower providers to deliver cleft surgery and care for patients in their community. We will provide education and training opportunities for around 210 medical professionals and develop cleft surgery capacity at hospitals. We plan to hold American Heart Association trainings for volunteers across various specialties and offer Surgical Training Rotations and Visiting Professorships for professionals in the fields of surgery, anesthesia, pediatrics, nursing and biomedical technology.
FIVE-YEAR VISION
Over the next five years, Operation Smile will deliver surgery to around 2,000 patients. We will provide consultations for 11,000 patients.
To develop self-sufficiency at spoke hospital partners, Operation Smile will combine care delivery programs with education and training programs that build Guatemala’s surgical workforce. We will train five cleft teams in quality cleft care to establish ongoing hospital-based programs. We will seek to expand our local volunteer base to 160. Operation Smile will offer American Heart Association training courses and create the first plastic surgery residency program in Guatemala.
Over the next five years, Operation Smile will expand its hub & spoke model to include two additional spokes, one in the east and one in the west of the country to address the unmet need in these areas.