Tweeting the #CleftToSmile movement

The campaign targets to achieve 1 million tweets by April 30 and thus spread awareness about the physical deformity and its treatment.

Operation Smile India, a charity that provides free cleft treatment, has launched a campaign on Twitter {to:) #CleftToSmile to spread much needed awareness about the cause of cleft and its affordable treatment. Clefting is a congenital deformity and most commonly appears in newly borns as a fissure or opening in the lip or palate.

:{to:) is a logo for the cause and the campaign asks people tweet the logo followed by #CleftToSmile using the keypad on the mobile phone or the keyboard on the computer. The campaign targets to achieve 1 million tweets by April 30 and thus spread awareness about the physical deformity and its treatment. The logo has been created by Ogilvy India.

According to the organisation, cleft is sadly neglected due to lack of awareness and with this campaign, they hope to bring the cause in the public eye by making :{to:) the world's most tweeted logo. "With 1 million tweets our voice will be loud enough to get headlines, conversations and support," says Operation Smile India. Launched on April 1, the campaign has so far garnered around 250 tweets supporting its cause.

The movement's ultimate mission is to eradicate cleft and spread awareness about the deformity and its treatment. The organisation states that not many people know about that cleft can be treated by spending Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 in India.

Explaining to afaqs the reasons behind choosing Twitter as a platform, Ranjit Barthakur, chairman, Operation Smile India, says that they wanted to reach the educated audience and spread the awareness and make them take the message forward. "In India, a deformity like cleft is considered to be God's curse and in most cases, the effected children don't live to celebrate their first birth day. Actually, the treatment for this is available and inexpensive. The only thing lacking is awareness and hence we felt Twitter would be a great platform for us to spread the word as we have all sorts of celebrities, opinion leaders and social influencers on the platform," Barthakur adds.

The organisation has also tied up with IPL team Rajasthan Royals who will support the cause with their tweets. Raj Kundra, Shilpa Shetty and Rahul Dravid will tweet #CleftToSmile from their personal accounts.

Barthakur further informs that the campaign is also targeted to attract the decision makers in the government to include cleft as a part of the national health agenda. Besides, drawing volunteers and raising funds are also objectives of the campaign.

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