By the end of March this year, the "Smile Train," an American
charity program, had devoted US$40 million to treatment of 106,000
Chinese children born with cleft lips and palates. Thanks to this
treatment, these children have started their new life, said Shell
Xue, chief project officer for the "Smile Train" program in China
on Thursday.
She disclosed the figure at the Fifth Smile Train Seminar on
Treating Cleft Lips and Palates held in Haikou, southern China's Hainan Province.
In March 1993, her company, the Smile Train Inc. worked with the
China Charity Federation (CCF) to kick off the program in over 30
Chinese provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. They
selected 154 hospitals in China to set up a medical aid network to
perform surgeries for poor children born with cleft lips and
palates.
Statistics show that in China, the incidence of cleft lips and
palates is 0.16%. In China, about 25,000 children are born with
cleft lips and palates every year.
Ms Shell Xue hoped that in China, people from all walks of life
could work together to help children with cleft lips and palates.
She also hoped that more poor children from poor families in China
would know the program and receive treatment from their
program.
(Chinanews.cn April 23, 2007)