ABOUT US
raising awareness • restoring smiles • promoting inclusivity
In Asia, 1 in 500 children is born with cleft. Unable to afford surgery,
1 in 10 of them do not make it to their first birthday.
Together, we can change that.
The Struggle with Cleft
​Across Asia, many children are born with cleft lips or palates, facing challenges with eating, speaking, and being accepted.
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Cleft lip and cleft palate are birth conditions where parts of a baby’s face don’t fully close in the womb, creating a gap in the upper lip or the roof of the mouth. This can affect feeding, speech and hearing if left untreated. Though causes vary, early surgery can usually repair the gap and help alleviate the challenges the child faces.
Our Aim
Smile Fiesta is a Charity run and Carnival event run by students that aims to raise awareness about cleft conditions through our Charity run, performances, and educational booths. We provide an inclusive space for cleft patients and families to connect, while also serving as a fundraising carnival supporting surgeries and patient care. We hope to be able to promote understanding, empathy, and community support for the cleft community.
Smile Asia is a global alliance of charities working together to treat facial deformities like cleft lip and cleft palate. We raise standards of medical care by creating opportunities for collaborative learning and exchange of best practices.
Smile Asia provides free surgeries to treat cleft condition, running medical missions, outreach centers, and student-led programmes that raise awareness and inspire action. Beyond surgery, Smile Asia hopes to give children the confidence and opportunities they deserve.
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With activities in 20 countries, Smile Asia member charities have collectively delivered over 70,000 surgeries across Asia till date. Smile Asia has programmatic activities in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Uzbekistan. It also has resource-generating activities in Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and United States.
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To learn more about Smile Asia, visit: smileasia.org
Smile Asia Students
Smile Fiesta is run with the support of students from various schools across Singapore. The Smile Asia Student Chapters across various schools in Asia that instill core values of commitment, leadership and volunteerism among student volunteers as well as raise awareness about cleft. Through participating in service-learning projects, students experience first-hand how they can impact the world.
Each year, students from our Student Chapters and student leaders from 20 countries converge in Singapore for the annual Asia Student Leadership Conference.
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