Gifts worth VND500,000 ($22 ) each were granted to 58 children from Hanoi and the northern provinces of Phu Tho, Bac Kan, Lao Cai and Dien Bien, who received surgeries funded by Operation Smile Vietnam – a nonprofit medical service organisation.
Some 2,000 babies are born with cleft lip and cleft palate every year in Vietnam.
Since 1994, the National Fund for Vietnamese Children (NFVC) has run Operation Smile to provide cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries for children. To date, nearly 30,000 children have benefited from the programme.
The NFVC has also mobilised resources to provide post-surgery assistance for children, thus helping them practice pronunciation and integrate into the community.
