New Report Says Smile Train Cleft Care Boosts Africa’s Economies By $2.5 Billion.

Smile Train, the world’s largest cleft-focused organisation with a sustainable and local model of supporting surgery and other forms of essential cleft care, has published a new study outlining the real-world return on their investments in communities around the world.

The report, “Smile Train at 25: $69 Billion in Impact,” includes new data on the economic impact and value of 25 years of transforming cleft care. Smile Train’s work has increased GDP by $69 billion in over 90 countries and restored 11 million total productive life years for cleft surgery patients worldwide, as measured by averted disability-adjusted life years (DALYs).

Smile Train has supported 149,249 primary cleft surgeries in Africa, preventing 1,137,742 years of disability and generating over $2.5 billion in economic benefits.

“Smile Train’s programmes in Africa began in 2002, and the economic impact is already being felt by our earliest beneficiaries, who can now work and live a better life. The return on investment is promising for such a diverse and expansive region.
“We attribute some of our success to collaborations with like-minded organisations and institutions, which have increased our ability to sponsor safe, timely, and high-quality care.”
“We are now taking it to the next level by using data to assist governments with surgical and anaesthesia policies that are in various stages of development and implementation.
“Our commitment to innovation has also been instrumental in ensuring we are constantly advancing safe and timely cleft care,” said Mrs. Nkeiruka Obi, Vice President and Regional Director for Africa at Smile Train.

“We are excited to share this latest study demonstrating the economic impact of our work,” said Susannah Schaefer, President and CEO of Smile Train. “Our global team’s dedication to our sustainable and local model of supporting surgery and essential cleft care has resulted in a significant $69 billion investment in local economies.
“It is time that the international medical community recognises the cost-effectiveness of integrating comprehensive cleft care into their health systems to provide every child with a cleft the care they deserve and the future they can achieve for themselves, their families, and their communities.”

For as little as $400 invested in one cleft surgery, up to $60,000 is returned to the local economy as former cleft patients contribute to economic output and live full, productive lives. This represents a more than 150x return on investment for a single cleft surgery.

Smile Train has spent 25 years providing timely, affordable, and high-quality cleft surgery to those in need. Since its inception, the organisation has sponsored over two million cleft surgeries, awarded more than $38 million in education and training grants to medical professionals, assisted 600,000+ families with funding for cleft care-related expenses, and collaborated with over 6,000 partner surgeons and 4,000 partner healthcare centres.
The data in this study demonstrate that surgical care is a sound investment and a cost-effective intervention with significant economic returns for individuals, nations, and the global economy.

The study is a follow-up to a 2016 study published in the World Journal of Surgery that examined the societal benefits provided by Smile Train’s global cleft surgical intervention programme over eleven years (2001-2011).

This new study updates the analysis with an additional eleven years of data (2012-2023) and was conducted using data from 1,486,131 Smile Train patient records of primary cleft procedures from 2001 to 2023. Cleft lip surgeries accounted for 58% of the records, followed by cleft palate surgeries at 42%. You can learn more about the study and its methodology here.

Smile Train provides local medical professionals with training, funding, and resources to provide free cleft surgery and comprehensive cleft care to children worldwide. It advances a long-term solution and scalable global health model for cleft treatment, significantly improving children’s lives, including their ability to eat, breathe, and speak.