Communities we support
At Mölnlycke we think about the long-term effects of our actions – whether we’re helping people to heal or giving back to the communities we serve. We give back to society by investing in communities where we operate – and by supporting charities that share our goals. We feel a strong sense of commitment to both the medical profession and patients receiving treatment and have chosen to support Operation Smile as our global charity partner, as well as at a local level. We share common ambitions and areas of expertise with them and collaborate together to improve sustainability of healthcare systems in underserved regions.
While Operation Smile is our global charity partner, we also support local charities that share our goal of improving healthcare outcomes if they meet our guidelines.
By donating time, products, funds and expertise, we can help improve the lives of patients and support those who care for them. Working within the community in this way enables the organisations we support to become self-sustained. This was we also establish ourselves as responsible long-term partners.
Our policy on local community support
Our community support policy is designed to help us play an active role in the community. We receive many requests for donations to good causes at a local level and we cannot support all of them.
We have guidelines that ensure our community support is appropriate. The organisations we support should:
- be in the medical field,
- work to improve patients’ lives, to improve medical staff protection, or to increase the level of knowledge in the medical field,
- provide credible and measurable results
The initiatives we support must also be in line with Advamed or Medtech Europe guidance.
Operation Smile gives children with facial deformities a new start
Our involvement
Since 2004, we've been proud to support Operation Smile, a charity that provides safe, free cleft lip and cleft palate repair surgery for children with facial deformities.
Read more
Cebu10000 Program
Shaping the future of cleft care together with Operation Smile
In 2021 we committed to a long-term program – Cebu10000 – to establish a cleft care centre of excellence in Cebu together with Operation Smile. With this program, our support goes far beyond donations and gifts in kind. The vision we share with our charity partner is a comprehensive approach to cleft care, which will change the life of at least 10,000 children in the Philippines.
In spite of the challenges of the pandemic including lockdowns in the Philippines, the program achieved its first big milestones on schedule in 2022. In July Mölnlycke’s clinical specialists carried out the first training in infection prevention for 21 medical professionals at the Pampanga Comprehensive Cleft Care Center in Rosario Memorial Hospital, Philippines. The first batch of Mölnlycke products has also been approved for donation by the FDA Philippines. Finally, the ground breaking ceremony for the building of the cleft care center of excellence at the Cebu City Medical Center took place.
Cebu10000 Program
Ground breaking in Cebu City Medical CentreAfter the initial delays caused by the pandemic-related lockdowns in the Philippines, Mölnlycke participated in the ground breaking ceremony for the Cleft Care Medical Center in Cebu on 2-3 December 2022. The ceremony included 40th anniversary celebrations of Operation Smile at its birthplace - the Philippines. Mölnlycke representatives volunteered in the patient recruitment day.
The official inauguration of the center is expected to take place in the first half of 2023 and to change the lives of 10,000 children and adolescents with facial deformities in the first three years of its operations.
I am very happy and proud to see the Cebu10000 plan coming to fruition. Our ambition is to over time enable the centre to become self-sustaining. We will support this by donating Mölnlycke products required to perform safe cleft lip and palate surgeries and providing training for local healthcare professionals in our areas of expertise: infection prevention, but also logistics and supply chain management.
Eric de Kesel, COO and EVP Sustainability
Ashley Anderson, Mölnlycke US, with a baby patient during the 2022 mission to Colombia
Life changing mission
Every year several of our employees help Operation Smile medical volunteers to restore smiles, hopes and futures. They travel on a mission overseas to volunteer their help where help is needed most.
Read about volunteer missions
