In India, it is estimated that more than 35,000 babies are born with clefts every year. Hundreds of thousands of children with untreated clefts live in isolation, but more importantly, have difficulty eating, breathing and speaking, as their families cannot afford the life-transforming cleft surgery and comprehensive cleft care they need. Smile Train India's 'teach a man to fish' model focuses on training, funding, and supplying resources for local medical professionals to provide cleft treatment in their own communities. These medical professionals then go on to train other medical professionals, creating a long-term and sustainable system.

Through its sustainable model, Smile Train India has supported more than 550,000 free cleft surgeries across India, through a network of 160+ partner hospitals.

"We are delighted to collaborate with Oracle again this year in supporting cleft treatment for children. Timely cleft surgeries give children the opportunity to live healthy and productive lives. Long term support from organizations like Oracle is vital in building sustainability, and this grant will help us continue to strengthen our cleft treatment programs in Hyderabad and allow us to reach out to more cleft patients through our partner hospitals," said Mamta Carroll, Vice President and Regional Director, Asia, Smile Train.

"We are proud to support Smile Train India, which transforms children's lives and life prospects daily, and builds capacity in the local medical community to do more of the same," said Colleen Cassity, Executive Director, Oracle Corporate Citizenship.