As many as 30 children born with harelips and cleft palates in northern Thanh Hoa province each received a free surgery worth US$77 on June 11, thanks to a charitable programme organized by the Vietnam Children Support Fund and the Thanh Hoa provincial Committee for Children, Family and Population under the sponsorship of the Hanoi International Women’s Club.

The club will continue to grant financial assistance through the Vietnam Children Support Fund to provide free-of-charge operations for about 12 children with harelips and cleft palates.

This is part of “smile for children” programme launched on the occasion of the action month for children initiated by the Vietnam Children Support Fund.

Since its operation in 1997, the programme has provided free surgeries to 12,900 harelip and cleft palate children with total funding of more than VND19 billion. In 2007, the Vietnam Children Support Fund plans to conduct operations on 903 harelip and cleft palate children in 28 provinces and cities at a total cost of over VND1 billion.