For the past 30 years, Médecins du Monde (Doctors of the World) has worked to provide access to healthcare for the most vulnerable populations and has lobbied for sustainable improvements and changes in health policies around the world.

Its most recent campaign, #makeachildcry, was launched on July 6th, 2015 in Western Europe. Impactful prints of tearful children plastered in metros and subways, with only the hashtag #makeachildcry, as explanation. The message? Tears can be a sign of well-being, a sign that children are getting the healthcare treatment they need, in order to prevent diseases, malnutrition, or even death. The objective? To raise funds for health care services for children globally.

The fact is, nearly 4 million children under the age of 5 die from diseases that are curable every year. Médecins du Monde is fighting to set up health care programs and services in order to prevent these deaths.

A strong partnership to restore smiles

Since 2008, the L’Oréal Foundation has been the exclusive partner of Médecins du Monde, for their “Opération Sourire” (Operation Smile) global mission, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2014. The initiative, launched in Cambodia, is meant to restore smiles, by conducting reparative facial operations on burn victims and patients with cleft lips, tumors or other facial malformations.

Since the beginning of the partnership, more than 5,500 patients have received operations by volunteer surgeons in more than 13 countries throughout Africa and Asia. From January to June 2015, the Operation has already completed 9 missions in 7 different countries, treating a total of 350 patients. By the end of 2015, over 1,000 patients will have been operated on and given the chance to find their smiles once again.

Learn more about Médecins du Monde and their mission Opération Sourire.