Smile Train India Awarded Oracle Grant for Providing New Smiles to Children Born With Clefts

NEW DELHI, August 21, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Part of Oracle's Commitment to Advance Education, Protect the Environment, and Strengthen Communities 

Smile Train India, a children's charity with a sustainable approach to a single, solvable problem: cleft lip and palate, announced that they have received a grant from Oracle, a global leader in cloud applications and platform services. The grant will provide free cleft surgeries and comprehensive cleft care to 360 children born with cleft lips and cleft palates in FY 18-19. The cleft treatments will be provided at Hyderabad.

In India, over 35,000 children are born with clefts every year and hundreds of thousands of children with untreated clefts live in isolation, but more importantly, have difficulty eating, breathing and speaking, as they cannot afford the life-transforming cleft reconstructive surgery. Smile Train India's 'teach a man to fish' model focuses on training, funding, and supplying resources for local medical professionals to provide cleft treatment in their own communities. These medical professionals then go on to train other medical professionals, creating a long-term and sustainable system.

Through this sustainable model, Smile Train India has provided over 500,000 free cleft reconstructive surgeries and comprehensive cleft care across India, through a network of 160+ partner hospitals.

"A child born with a cleft needs timely and comprehensive cleft care and our aim is to facilitate the same, free of cost. With Oracle's support, we will further strengthen our programs in Hyderabad and bring comprehensive cleft care to many more children. We thank Oracle for their generosity and look forward to creating an impact together," said Mamta Carroll, Vice President and Regional Director-Asia, Smile Train.

"We are proud to support Smile Train India, which transforms children's lives and life prospects daily, and builds capacity in the local medical community to do more of the same," said Colleen Cassity, Executive Director, Oracle Corporate Citizenship.

About Smile Train India 

Smile Train India is a children's charity, with a sustainable approach to a single, solvable problem: cleft lip and palate. In India, over 35,000 children are born with clefts every year and hundreds of thousands of children with untreated clefts live in isolation, but more importantly, have difficulty eating, breathing and speaking. A cleft reconstructive surgery leads to immediate transformation. We advance a sustainable solution and scalable global health model for cleft treatment, drastically improving children's lives, including their ability to eat, breathe, speak, and ultimately thrive. Since the year 2000, Smile Train's sustainable model provides training, funding and resources to empower local doctors and hospitals across India to provide 100%-free cleft surgery and comprehensive cleft care in their own communities. This 'teach a man to fish' strategy has enabled Smile Train India to provide 500,000 free surgeries through a network of over 160 partner hospitals. To learn more about how Smile Train India's sustainable approach has both an immediate and long-term impact, please visit smiletrainindia.org.

Cleft Facts: India
- Every year, 35,000 children in India are born with clefts.
- Less than 50% of children born with clefts get treatment due to ignorance and poverty.
- Children with untreated clefts have difficulty in breathing, eating and speaking.
- In India, hundreds of thousands of children with untreated clefts live a life of shame and isolation.
- They do not attend school and have difficulty finding jobs when they grow up.
- A 45 minute surgery can correct this birth defect.
- Cleft surgery gives these children a second chance at life. They go to school, get a job and become contributing members of society.
- According to an independent study - Economic Valuation of the Global Burden of Cleft Disease Averted by a Large Cleft Charity - published in the British Medical Journal Global Health, the return on investment of cleft surgery and cleft repair, which can cost as little as $250, in a developing country can be as much as 168 times, or $42,000, which is an extraordinary value of return.

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Media Contact:
Anjali Katoch
[email protected]
+91-11-47856300
Smile Train India