San Salvador, El Salvador

El Salvador is a country known for its beautiful beaches, mountains and volcanoes. It currently has a steadily growing economy, but natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes have hindered its progress. El Salvador is among the most impoverished countries in Latin America.

95% of the children born with cleft deformities in El Salvador live in impoverished conditions. They cannot afford, access, and often do not attempt to receive cleft treatment. Hospital Nacional de Niños Benjamin Bloom of San Salvador, El Salvador is the only hospital that treats children with clefts. With its limited resources, this children's hospital can only attend to approximately 150 patients per year, while the number of cleft babies increases annually by 600. In response to a significant need, The Global Smile Foundation travels to San Salvador to perform corrective cleft lip and microtia procedures, as well as pediatric dental procedures.

Mission Statistics

(From GSF’s Most Recent Mission — January 20 - 29 2012)

GSF recently returned from another very successful mission in San Salvador, El Salvador. This was the 9th mission for our volunteers to El Salvador in 7 years.

GSF partnered with Hospital de Niños Benjamin Bloom and local Salvadoran colleagues to provide the highest quality, multidisciplinary cleft care. GSF and El Salvadoran team screened 80 patients and performed surgery on 42 patients. In addition, 10 speech therapy sessions and 40 dental procedures were performed throughout the week.