Global Miles for Smiles

Click below to view a progress report for the "Oral health prevention and infection control for Syrian refugees and Lebanese marginalized population" from the following periods:

UB Miles for Smiles contributed to SAMS and MAPS  efforts to provides Heating Fuel to refugee Schools in Northwest Syria and Lebanon to Help Keep Children Warm.

Since December 2019, over half a million children have been displaced by intense violence in northwest Syria, with thousands of children and their families forced to live in ill-equipped tents amid harsh winter conditions. Desperate parents are doing everything they can to keep their children warm in the winter though few can afford to buy heaters, heating fuel, or other winter necessities. In some of these informal settlements, tents are used as classrooms for children to bring some normalcy to their childhood and help them stay warm in cold weather. 

To help protect these vulnerable children from the cold, UB Miles for Smiles partnered with SAMS and MAPS to Keep the children warm

University of New York at Buffalo Miles for Smiles Program partnered with SAMS Foundation winterization project in northwest Syria and Lebanon. Our support helped providing 750 displaced families in the camps in Idlib with warm blankets, heaters, and heating fuel that will last them up to 90 days.

The first distribution of the items under this project took place on, January 23. 2022

The University at Buffalo Miles for Smiles program is a bi-annual mission aimed at delivering free dental care and education to Syrian refugees.  Under the leadership of Dr. Othman Shibly, Miles for Smiles is training volunteers and teachers at refugee camps in Lebanon to perform basic education and oral health care.

Since the Syrian crisis began in 2011, Miles for Smiles has provided treatment for thousands of refugees through medical missions in Jordan, Turkey, and Lebanon.  To further meet the growing need, Miles for Smiles has opened two full-time clinics in Turkey which provide free dental care to thousands of refugees. 

These missions are possible because of the selfless volunteers and organizations who are committed to helping those in need.  One such organization is the Alliance for the Oral Health, an organization that includes more than 30 Universities around the world who provide dental care for people living in conflict zones.