Smiles Better is a two pronged campaign that seeks to improve the lives of acid attack survivors and those born with unrepaired cleft lips and palates. Islamic Help partners with various organisations to provide life changing reconstructive surgery in a number of countries around the world.

Acid attacks are perpetrated in a number of countries and more often than not against women by their partners or other family members. Whilst all forms of violence against women is deplorable acid attacks are particularly abhorrent and require a level of premeditation and planning unsurpassed by other forms of violence. They leave a legacy of pain, disfigurement and abject misery for the vast majority of survivors. Reconstructive surgery and a package of measures put together to support such survivors are the crucial first step towards rebuilding their lives.

Islamic Help has been providing specialist medical and surgical support to acid burns victims since 2005. Facial burns have major visual impact on victims and anybody who sees them, burns around other parts of the body constrict muscles, thereby severely restricting movement of the head, arms and legs, so you can imagine the torment that acid can cause.

The surgery that Islamic Help has been providing over the past years (led by world renowned surgeon Dr Muhammad Ali Jawad) has had a significant impact on survivors, enabling enhanced facial appearance, free and unrestricted movement of the limbs and most importantly reigniting the confidence to live in the community again.

Islamic Help is committed to providing such support and has now teamed up with the Acid Survivors Trust International (ASTI) to expand the reach of its Smiles Better Campaign to Pakistan, Bangladesh, Uganda, Nepal and Cambodia. We are also now looking at working to rehabilitate acid survivors by providing various livelihood opportunities so they can generate income to support themselves and gain the self-belief that they are still part of society.

The Smiles Better Campaign is supported by Islamic Help’s ambassador, Katie Piper. Herself a survivor of a brutal acid attack she has been campaigning tirelessly to raise awareness of the growing phenomenon of acid attacks and to fundraise for other survivors. Her remarkable story, which was the subject of a Channel 4 documentary - Katie: My Beautiful Face and is also recounted in her book Beautiful has inspired so many to support the campaign.

“I am very proud to be an Ambassador for Islamic Help, I have been affiliated with them for a number of years and very much admire the work that they do. Having been a victim of an acid attack myself, I know too well the devastation caused as a result and the impact it has on someone’s life. I was lucky enough to be treated in the UK and have some of the best treatment. I have so much respect for Islamic Help because they are striving tohelp those who live in developing countries and provide the type of surgical support necessary that they would not otherwise have had”.

Contribute to supporting acid attack survivors in rebuilding their lives.

Unrepaired cleft lips and palates affect countless children in the developing world, and have an impact on their health, their emotional wellbeing and on their life chances. Often a simple procedure costing no more than £150 is all that is needed to change the lives of such children. Islamic Helps has conducted hundreds of cleft lip operations in Pakistan and has now teamed up with Smile Train Italia to provide the simple surgical procedure for children in Bangladesh and Kurdistan.

If you would like to help make a child smile donate now.