Bolivia

In Bolivia, where childhood malnutrition and poverty are widespread, Operation Smile provides a crucial bridge to health care for children born with cleft conditions.

Visit Operation Smile Bolivia’s Website

In Bolivia, 1 in 373 children are born with a cleft condition. Many don’t receive care.

Operation Smile Bolivia: By the Numbers

By building local care capacity, Operation Smile teams ensure children receive safe surgery and multidisciplinary cleft support.

1999

Year Services Began in Bolivia

5,000+

Cleft surgeries provided

180+

Volunteers

Expanding Access to Care

To ensure that every child has access to care close to home, we equip the providers within our patients’ communities with skills and resources to deliver high-quality care. We build the needed capacity by harnessing the talent and resources that exist within the country, usually in the bigger cities, the hubs, to train providers in under-resourced areas, the spokes, where most patients lack access to care.

In Bolivia, Operation Smile provides care at Hospital Japones, our hub in Santa Cruz.

We are currently building teams at spokes in Cochabamba and La Paz and will launch surgical care at both sites within the year Operation Smile is also working to establish an additional spoke in Santa Cruz at Hospital Del Nino.

Our Partners

Operation Smile partners with a number of institutions to provide surgery and comprehensive care for patients with cleft lip and cleft palate. We sincerely appreciate the support of the Ministry of Health, the Autonomous Government of Santa Cruz Department, the Departmental Health Service, Japones Hospital, Maria de Los Angeles Clinic, Los Angeles Clinic, Unifranz University, Unifranz Foundation, Private Latin American Open University, Simon I. Patiño Foundation, Solidarity Bridge Foundation and Arebalo Clinic.