Today I’m heading to Kigali, Rwanda, where more than 400 main world teachers, policymakers, and healthcare experts will fetch at the Pan-African Surgical Conference to handle a necessary world health effort: bringing catch entry to to total surgical care nearer to patients’ homes.
This crucial gathering has me reflecting on a outing I took with my husband, plastic surgeon Bill Magee, more than 40 years previously to the Philippines to advantage childhood in need of life-altering surgeries. We dreamed of the use of our healthcare expertise to bring contemporary smiles to childhood who mandatory cleft lip and palate surgeries. We operated on 40 childhood but had to shrink again 300 more. The necessity used to be overwhelming—now now not beautiful for cleft care, but all surgical procedures in the Philippines and dozens of diversified countries worldwide.
We moreover realized that in just a few locations, there used to be a lack of trained physicians, nurses, tools, and infrastructure, now now not beautiful for cleft care but for fetch surgeries of all kinds. What began with fairly one with a cleft condition led us to a community, which showed us the need for a dash. That second sparked Operation Smile, which used to be based on the belief that that ought to you thought a necessity, you take motion toward addressing that need.
Today, we possess helped over 400,000 patients worldwide with surgical care, whereas supporting thousands more who bought free total care services and products. What began in a village in the Philippines has develop into a world organization that works completely in 37 countries.
However the need is soundless so enormous. Worldwide over 5 billion folks—more than two-thirds of the arena’s inhabitants—lack catch entry to to fetch, affordable surgical treatment.
Right commerce occurs when care is native. This is the reason we possess evolved our contrivance to specialize in coaching and equipping in-country surgeons and scientific teams to bring life-saving procedures in their communities.
We work closely with native scientific leaders, health ministries, universities, accrediting institutions, NGOs, and worldwide organizations. We listen to our in-country professionals, increase them, and learn from them to drive impact.
In Africa we operate in 12 countries, working with top surgical and anesthesiology institutions to form a sustainable staff. Our work in Africa began in Kenya in 1987, and in 2025, we’re expanding to Tanzania. Our key partners—COSECSA, CANECSA, the American Coronary heart Association, and the World Federation Society of Anesthesia—advantage us direct and equip Africa’s subsequent generation of surgeons and anesthesiologists.
In Rwanda, a nation of 13 million, there possess been beautiful two plastic surgeons when our work there began. Households attempting to obtain cleft surgical treatment traveled a total bunch of miles—ultimate to be changed into away. To commerce this, we partnered with the Rwandan authorities, introducing a hub-and-spoke mannequin that trains scientific professionals locally. Today, Rwanda is scaling this mannequin nationwide, and we’re proud to increase this effort alongside the Rwanda Surgical Society, the University of Rwanda, and the Rwandan Ministry of Health.
Our impact is real: from two plastic surgeons to practically two dozen, and from one country to a continent-huge dash. Throughout Africa, 55 universities and institutions are coaching the subsequent generation of surgeons, decentralizing care, and cutting expenses for patients.
Be half of free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get grasp of essentially the most up-to-date in African news delivered straight to your inbox
This work is more than surgical treatment—it’s a machine commerce that can future-proof catch entry to to surgical treatment. By strengthening native expertise, lowering reliance on out-of-country scientific increase, and equipping governments with real-time health data, we’re establishing a sustainable future for surgical care in Africa.
On the Pan-African Surgical Conference in Kigali, world experts will come together to push this agenda forward. Finest by bringing fetch, legit surgical treatment nearer to dwelling can we bring hope, possess a lasting impact, and make obvious that no affected person is left in the support of.
Kathy Magee is the co-founder, president, and CEO of Operation Smile and a registered nurse.
