To revive hope in children suffering from facial malformations, notably cleft lip and palate, by restoring their smile after state-of-the-art reconstructive surgery.

Such is the objective of Operation Smile Morocco, a subsidiary of the charity organisation "Operation Smile International" based in the United States, a pioneer in reconstructive surgery, which is organising its second humanitarian surgical mission in Ouarzazate. This mission is the hundredth at the national level.

Organised free of charge under the Honorary Presidency of H.R.H. Princess Lalla Meriem, this second mission will take place from Friday 04 to Saturday 12 March next at the Sidi Hssain Hospital in Ouarzazate. It will benefit more than 120 children and young adults from this region as well as from all over the Kingdom.

According to the programme concocted by the organisers, consultations and registrations will take place on the first two days of the operation, at the Sidi Hssain hospital.

"A medical committee will draw up a main list and a complementary list of patients eligible to undergo a surgical operation during the week of 07 to 11 March," it is explained in a press release. This, after the establishment of diagnoses by a multidisciplinary medical team, composed notably of surgeons, anaesthetists, dentists, paediatricians, and speech therapists; analyses, and an in-depth study of the proposed files.

As for the last day, Saturday 12 March, it will be devoted to post-operative check-ups, we learn from the same source.

It should be noted that this new mission "will be carried out within the framework of a partnership of Operation Smile Morocco with Acwa Power Ouarzazate II, an actor renowned for its involvement in social projects in the region," indicated the promoters of this important operation.

Regarding this partnership, the latter specified that it started with two humanitarian actions; a surgical one in Rabat (December 2015) and the second dental one in Ouarzazate Bougafer Hospital (February 2016), during which 1072 children benefited from 4,133 dental procedures. Note that in addition to improving the health and quality of life of children by correcting their facial malformations, Operation Smile Morocco also offers free medical care and follow-up to them and young adults. Which follow-up "is provided within its Centre located in Casablanca El Fida Mers-Sultan," it is recalled.

Operation Smile, which has led a total of 86 missions across the Kingdom, also trains "volunteer" health professionals in new surgical techniques through training, either in the United States, Europe, Canada, the Philippines, or Brazil, Taiwan, among others.

As the organisers noted, the malformation of cleft lip and palate is ranked fourth among facial malformations in children; each year there are more than 200,000 new births in the world with cleft lip and palate.

Created 34 years ago, Operation Smile International is active in 65 countries. Thanks to a multidisciplinary and volunteer care team of more than 7000 people, it has managed to operate on more than 9800 patients on Moroccan territory and more than 180,000 globally.

Its Moroccan subsidiary, Operation Smile Morocco, has existed for 17 years. It must however be emphasised that its first mission took place before the official creation of this organisation. It was in 1998.