Pia Wurtzbach promotes charity for kids needing cleft surgery

During her whirlwind week of activities last week upon her return to the Philippines, Miss Universe Pia Wurtzbach visited the beneficiaries of Smile Train, an international organization that provides cleft lip and cleft palate surgery to children.

 

Today @missuniverse visited Smile Train patients in the Philippines. #Repost #confidentlybeautiful #PowerOfASmile

A photo posted by Smile Train (@smiletrain) on

Jan 27, 2016 at 11:20am PST

Smile Train earlier announced its partnership with the Miss Universe Organization, saying that it hopes the collaboration will "will help raise awareness of the issues faced by children living with unrepaired clefts in the developing world."

In a statement, Smile Train Philippines country director Kimmy Coseteng-Flaviano said that the group is "extremely proud" of the partnership. “We hope that this partnership will help us reach more children around the world in desperate need of cleft surgery, a simple surgery that, not only creates a new smile, but also a new chance at life,” she said, noting that in the Philippines, close to 5,000 babies are born every year with clefts.

Pia Wurtzbach and some of Smile Train's young beneficiaries. Photo: Smile Train

— BM, GMA News

For more information about Smile Train, visit its official website and Smile Train Philippines' Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.