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Operation Smile Hosts World Summit 2006 in Limerick, Ireland

Event gathers 130 Operation Smile international leaders in preparation for 2007's 25th Anniversary initiatives to increase the number of children treated with facial deformities.

Operation Smile, a private, not-for-profit, volunteer medical services organization providing free reconstructive surgery and related healthcare to children around the world suffering with facial deformities, announces its World Summit 2006. The three-day conference in Ireland assembled 130 of Operation Smile's leading authorities representing nearly 30 countries. The Summit is being held to officially launch the year-long 25th Anniversary celebration and to finalize plans allowing the organization to treat more children around the world suffering with cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities.

World Summit 2006 will take place October 22-24 at Adare Manor Hotel & Golf Resort in Adare County, Limerick, Ireland. Hosted by Operation Smile, nearly 130 participants from Operation Smile's 25 partner countries, six resource countries and the United States converged at the site to discuss the organization's upcoming 25th anniversary and develop strategies to equip Operation Smile partner countries with the tools they need to increase the number of children treated each year. Tom and Judy Kane, owners of Adare Manor Hotel & Golf Resort, donated the facilities and accommodations for the event and the location provides a central location for participants from the Americas, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

The participants attended sessions focused on medicine, funding and sustainability to develop methods that will lead to improved and sustained health care for children suffering with facial deformities. An overview of Operation Smile's World Journey of Smiles will be discussed, which will increase the number of children served each year. To be conducted in 2007, World Journey of Smiles will propel Operation Smile into the next 25 years, ensuring its success by giving Operation Smile's partner countries the necessary knowledge, expertise, and equipment to treat children in their own countries year round.

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