“Winner of the Award for Most Sustainable Project in the Absa Healthcare Initiative Awards 2007 "

As a leading South African pharmaceutical company Cipla Medpro has always championed the right to affordable healthcare for all South Africans. At the core of our business lies the fundamental belief that affordable healthcare is a right, not a privilege.

Each year, one in every 500 children in the developing world is born with a facial deformity. Without the financial resources or access to corrective surgery, these children face myriad problems, from difficulty in eating, ear disease, dental problems and problematic speech development. In addition, they are subjected to a life of disfigurement, humiliation, ridicule and private pain.

In 2006 we launched the Cipla Miles for Smiles Foundation, a non-profit organization that raises funds for corrective surgery for children born with cleft lips and /or cleft palates. The aim of the Cipla Miles for Smiles Foundation is to combine a series of events involving local participation, as well as issue a challenge to South African sportsmen to conquer the ultimate endurance test.

In 2006, Cipla Miles for Smiles extreme athletes Braam Malherbe and David Grier made history by running the Great Wall of China, in the process raising sufficient funds to provide corrective facial surgery to 55 children.

In 2008, they returned for another never-been-done-before extreme event, the Cipla SPAR Miles for Smiles Coastal Challenge, where they ran a 3300 km 'smile' around the coastline of Southern Africa. (read more…)