Kigali — “My kids always ask me, ‘What keeps you up at night?’ I say, ‘One more child, just one more child, let’s take care of them,'” said Kathy Magee, co-founder, president, and CEO of Operation Smile and a registered nurse.
Magee’s journey began 43 years ago when she and her husband, plastic surgeon Bill Magee, traveled to the Philippines to assist children who needed life-changing surgery. She said they had no idea what they were getting into when they started Operation Smile. She recalled their first experience, where they were taken to a conference room filled with children suffering from cleft conditions.
“There were hundreds of kids with cleft lip and cleft mouth, and their families surrounding them,” she said. With only 14 team members to care for 250 children, the situation was overwhelming. “People inched up to us, saying, ‘Please, my child, my child.’ And actually, we were all in tears,” she said.
They committed to doing what they could and promised to return to finish the job despite the daunting task of treating 250 children with limited resources. “Guess what? We’re still here. They’re everywhere. They’re everywhere, and we need your help to do this,” she said.
“So, everybody must commit. You must commit, for sure. And you will make the change in this world.”
She talked about how Operation Smile collaborated with the College of Surgeons of East, Central, and Southern Africa (COSECSA), a surgical training organization, that started with just one or two surgeons. Now, they have trained and graduated 138 medical professionals across various specialties in Zimbabwe with its support. Magee also spoke about the importance of education as a “force multiplier,” explaining that continuous teaching and training in operating rooms is essential for developing future healthcare providers. Operation Smile has expanded surgical training across Africa, with a presence in 12 African countries and a recent expansion into Tanzania, she said.
Over 400,000 patients have received surgical care through Operation Smile worldwide, while thousands more received free comprehensive care.
Many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa lack the equipment, technology, and know-how to provide efficient surgical care to citizens and visitors, due to a shortage of surgical professionals. In collaboration with Operation Smile, the Rwanda Surgical Society, the University of Rwanda, and the Rwanda Ministry of Health, the Pan-African Surgical Conference brought together 400 leaders in academia, policymakers, global surgery experts, and stakeholders to discuss critical issues and potential solutions within the field of surgery.
Africa is projected to experience a shortage of six million surgical care providers by 2030, representing over half of the global shortage.
“Five billion people go without access to any kind of surgical interventions,” she said. “They’re just not available,” she said. “We need the providers and the team behind them.”
Magee described the hub-and-spoke model that Operation Smile is implementing to expand surgical access. Using its hub-and-spoke model, Operation Smile reaches more people in their communities with cleft care. In this model, larger hospitals serve as hubs that provide resources and training to smaller hospitals with fewer resources, known as spokes.
The first renovated center was established in Ruhengeri, Rwanda, where the model has been successful. The first spoke center now serves people within a 70-mile radius. The facility is part of Operation Smile’s broader initiative to strengthen access to essential surgeries and healthcare. In Rwanda, they demonstrate how education and training can transform healthcare systems and impact an entire nation.
It also operates in 37 countries.
“Every child matters…”
She recounted the heartbreaking story of a seven-day-old child with a cleft being fed with a spoon because the family lacked proper resources. Recognizing the dire situation, she immediately sought help from her team to intervene. A dentist created an obturator for the child with a cleft palate. The team came together, placed the device, and a year later, that same child returned as a healthy one-year-old, ready for surgery.
She also spoke about the challenges families face, such as selling livestock to afford travel for medical care, and said district hospitals are needed to bring healthcare closer to communities, reducing financial and logistical burdens.
“Every child matters,” Magee said, remembering her conversation with Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, who expressed his desire to build strong families, workers, and nations.
“We have all been put here for a purpose. Every single one of us. We’re not here for no reason… You have a purpose in life. And you need to think about it. What is my purpose? What am I going to do? Because that is what will make it for the future for you…” she said.
