You are here: Home > About Us > History

Our History

Operation Smile Morocco is part of a global alliance of Operation Smile Foundations and Resource Chapters dedicated to providing free treatment to children and adults suffering from cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities.

Operation Smile Morocco operates under the patronage of Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Meriam, the organization’s Honorary Chairperson. In 1999 Operation Smile Morocco became a registered, independent, legal and financial entity (NGO) and its first board of directors was elected.

The first medical mission to Morocco took place in 1998 where 299 children received free medical evaluations and 126 patients received life-changing surgery.

Since 1999, with the support of Operation Smile, the Ministry of Health and its sponsors, Operation Smile Morocco has organized medical missions to help children from Morocco and its neighboring countries. These medical missions are comprised of Moroccan and international teams of healthcare professionals who volunteer their time and talent to provide free medical and surgical care to children suffering from cleft lips, cleft palates and burns.

Since Operation Smile's first mission to Morocco in 1998, volunteers have provided free physical examinations to more than 14,800 patients and life-changing surgery to more than 6,800 children and young adults during international medical missions.

In 2008, Operation Smile Morocco opened its Care Center in Casablanca. The center operates year-round to provide ongoing medical care to hundreds of children each year. The Care Center also serves as headquarters for Operation Smile Morocco’s clinical and education programs as well as its administrative and fund-raising activities.

Also in 2008, Operation Smile Morocco opened a dental clinic, the Angus Lawson Dental Care (ALDC) Department, within its Care Center. The clinic boasts state-of-the-art equipment, which allows Operation Smile Morocco’s more than 100 dental volunteers to treat hundreds of children each week. The dental clinic was funded, in part, by the Angus Lawson Memorial Trust of the UK, which makes funds available to support children from underprivileged or disadvantaged backgrounds, and to meet healthcare and educational needs.

Operation Smile Morocco is not only dedicated to helping take care patients suffering from cleft lips and palates in Morocco, but also with helping establishing local programs and projects in the neighboring countries of Algeria, Libya, Mauritania and Senegal.