Miss Universe Ghana has teamed up with Smile Train Africa to create awareness and advocate for children suffering with cleft lip and palate in Ghana.

Through this collaboration, Menaye Donkor, CEO and National Director for Miss Universe Ghana, will be the Goodwill Ambassador for Smile Train in Ghana and will help raise awareness of the issues faced by children living with untreated clefts.

As a part of her commitment, Menaye will be visiting some of Smile Train’s local partner hospitals in Accra during their cleft week to see the local surgeons perform life-changing cleft surgeries firsthand and interact with some of the patients. This will be in addition to her participation at the Cleft Palate Speech Camp.

Smile Train’s sustainable model provides training, funding and resources to empower local doctors in 85+ developing countries to provide 100%-free cleft repair surgery and comprehensive cleft care in their own communities. It is estimated that 748 children in Ghana are born with clefts every year.

Smile Train Ghana has more than 6 local partner hospitals and 12 partner surgeons who are on the ground helping children with clefts 365 days a year. To date, Smile Train has provided cleft repair surgery to more than 2,000 patients in Ghana.

It provides financial support to help cover the costs for surgery and has also provided support for crucial safety equipment like pulse oximeters and surgical instruments and supplies like scalpels and sutures. All of these investments make not only a significant number of incremental surgeries possible, but also makes these surgeries safer and of higher quality.

It is an international children’s charity with a sustainable approach to a single, solvable problem: cleft lip and palate. Millions of children in developing countries with untreated clefts live in isolation, but more importantly, have difficulty eating, breathing and speaking.

Cleft repair surgery is simple, and the transformation is immediate. Our sustainable model provides training, funding and resources to empower local doctors in 85+ developing countries to provide 100%-free cleft repair surgery and comprehensive cleft care in their own communities.

The Miss Universe Organization (MUO) uses its global grassroots reach to empower women to be self-confident and strive to be their personal best. MUO believes that every woman should be “Confidently Beautiful.”

The MISS UNIVERSE, MISS USA, and MISS TEEN USA pageants provide an international platform through dedicated partnerships with charities, sponsors, and brands around the world.

During their reign, the titleholders are given the tools to personally and professionally enrich others by providing humanitarian efforts to affect positive change, all while developing their personal career goals.