Since 1993, Operation Smile Venezuela has delivered nearly 9,370 high-quality surgeries for patients affected by cleft lip and cleft palate.
THE NEED
Cleft prevalence. It is estimated that, worldwide, a child is born every 3 minutes with a cleft condition— about one in 500-750 births. Operation Smile’s survey revealed that 85% of patients arriving at Operation Smile programs in Venezuela could not have undergone surgery without the support of Operation Smile.
Shortfall of health workers. Venezuela faces a shortage of skilled medical professionals. Venezuela has just 18 specialist surgical workers per 100,000 population, which falls short of the average number of 71 specialist surgical workers in high-income countries.
Financial burden. In Venezuela, 67% of patients arriving at Operation Smile programs live below the poverty line and 93% do not have health insurance. Out-of-pocket payments often prevent patients from accessing the treatment that they need. In Venezuela, one in ten individuals faces impoverishing expenditure for surgical care, while one in four individuals risks catastrophic expenditure for surgical care.
Lack of infrastructure. Venezuela suffers from a lack of critical hospital infrastructure. With less than one hospital bed per 1,000 people, medical facilities fail to meet the needs of the population. In stark contrast, high-income countries have 5.6 hospital beds per 1,000 people.
Barriers to education and employment. According to Operation Smile’s survey, 24% of patients arriving at Operation Smile programs said that their school attendance was impacted by their condition. In addition, 44% of surveyed caretakers are forced to stay home to care for children born with cleft conditions, which creates an additional financial strain for families.
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.
Our work in health policy & advocacy and health infrastructure & equipment addresses structural barriers to care and helps build robust health systems. Operation Smile’s research & innovation efforts inform all aspects of our decision-making and allow us to have a comprehensive understanding of the impact our programs have on patients.
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.
Our hub is based at our Care Center in Caracas, the capital and largest city of Venezuela.
Operation Smile also carries out surgical activities in the cities of Maracaibo and Barcelona.
Cleft Care Programs
This year, Operation Smile will provide surgical care for around 190 patients. We will expand comprehensive cleft care services by providing consultations in oral health (~720 patients), nutrition (~150 patients), ENT (~20 patients), pediatrics (~390 patients) and speech therapy (~530 patients). Operation Smile’s nutrition programs ensures that patients are healthy enough to undergo surgery and anesthesia. This year, we will develop meal plans to teach families how to prepare cost-efficient and nutritious food. We will present these plans at our Care Center in Caracas at least once a month.
Education
We will increase access to cleft care in Venezuela by educating and training nearly 200 health workers. We will also provide specialized training in various specialties, including plastic surgery, maxillofacial surgery, PACU nursing, pre/post op nursing, biomed and speech therapy. Operation Smile partners with the American Heart Association (AHA) to equip health care workers with the necessary skills to respond in an emergency. Through our partnership with the AHA, we will provide Basic Life Support (BLS) and Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) training for medical professionals. This year, we will reactivate our student programs in Venezuela.
FIVE-YEAR VISION
Over the next five years, Operation Smile will provide surgeries for over 1,070 patients. In addition, we will deliver comprehensive cleft care consultations to approx. 2,500 patients.
Operation Smile will provide education and training for medical professionals working in the fields of surgery, anesthesia, pediatrics, nursing, biomedical engineering, oral health and others. We deliver American Heart Association (AHA) courses to health workers across various specialties.
