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It has partnered with Smile Train India to bring about the first ever smiles for 100 cleft patients.
The Himalaya Drug Company has launched a social campaign titled 'Muskaan', in association with Smile Train India, an international NGO dedicated to spreading awareness on cleft deformities and providing free corrective surgeries for the under-privileged people.
As part of the initiative, Himalaya Lip Care, the company's lip care product, will enable a minimum of 100 cleft surgeries with the help of Smile Train India through the first year of their partnership. So far, 55 cleft surgeries have already been completed. Each time a Himalaya Lip Care will be sold, Rs 2 will be contributed towards the cause. Himalaya's aim is to ensure that children in need of cleft surgeries get access to treatment at the earliest, and at an age when the healing is quicker.
According to Carrol, this birth defect impairs eating, speaking and breathing and can lead to a life filled with shame and social isolation for the children and their families. "In the last 16 years, we have helped provide new smiles and a second chance in life to over 4,50,000 children in India and we are excited that Himalaya has joined us in this journey to transform lives. We are sure that the film on Jyothi will help raise awareness about clefts and its life-impacting treatment," she says.
"Support from corporates like Himalaya is a critical aspect of our work. It not only helps us continue and sustain our work, but enables us to extend it, add greater value to it, and spread awareness on a far greater scale. We look forward to a long and mutually fulfilling partnership with Himalaya which will add value to both organisations, as well as our common constituency of cleft patients," says Carrol.
Rahul Bharti, creative director, Roadrunner - the video production house, says, "The brief given to us emphasised on bringing alive the difference that a simple corrective cleft surgery can make in the life of a cleft patient. Simple things that we take for granted like smiling to express happiness, socialising with friends, and wearing make-up to look as well as feel good, was a big challenge for this young girl and this is something we discovered in our first meeting with Jyothi."
He further adds, "While it is impossible for a three-minute film to do justice to her everyday challenges, we have tried to capture a glimpse of her experience and aspirations."
In 2013, Bollywood actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan appeared in a Smile Train campaign. In the video, Bachchan had conveyed the predicament of patients with cleft-lips and the possibility of changing such a child's life by supporting the NGO.