Olivia visits Moyo and meets Mothers Union
Dental Project in in Mijale this June
Dentaid is a UK charity that works to provide safe, sustainable and affordable dental care in the UK and overseas. Thanks to fundraising they have been working in the Yumbe District where Mijale is located and a district that has no dental facility.
You can read more about the first trip made to the refugee camps by Dentaid’s Ugandan associate Angel Nsubuga and his team here.
Dentaid has also provided treatment at the CRESS MIjale Clinic.
With over a million refugees with no access to dental treatment the people often resort to traditional healers which results in chronic pain and complications. For this reason and many more the service being offered by Dentaid is vital.
Dentaid has worked in Uganda for the last 15 years and supports a network of dental professionals who provide outreach clinics in poor and remote communities. This is supported by a volunteering programme where UK dental professionals spend two weeks working alongside Dentaid’s Ugandan partners in schools, orphanages, prisons and community buildings.
In 2009 the charity devised the DentaidBox – a portable dental surgery complete with a chair that can be operated without access to water or electricity. And the whole thing fits into a wheelie bin! Not only did this allow the charity to help more projects around the world but an entire surgery could be built and sent overseas for £1,800. The first DentaidBox was sent to Uganda in 2012 and they are now being used in countries all over the world.
Dentaid trustee Jane Lelean completed the London Marathon last month and has raised over £1,700 which will be used to support Dentaid’s work in refugee camps in northern Uganda. Jane shares her experience of running this years marathon in 25 degrees heat on the Dentaid website.
Thank you to Dentaid for kindly allowing us to share this story.
Dental Health Project
CRESS aims to improve the dental health of South Sudanese refugees in Northern Uganda.
The Dental Health Project delivers oral hygiene education as well as much-needed emergency dental treatment for refugees. It is primarily sponsored by Dentaid, who are providing the funding for the dental team and medical resources. CRESS has provided the venue for the outreach service within the Jahovar Rapha Clinic in Mijale, as well as the staff to support the Dentaid team.
Impact of the Dental Health Project
In February 2018, Angel Nsubuga, a Ugandan Public Health Dental Officer based in Kampala, offered a dental outreach service for refugees in Mijale with the support of CRESS staff, providing dental treatment for 90 patients over two days.
Another dental health session was held in June 2018 where Angel and his team saw another 354 patients over three days giving a total of 464 dental patients seen. Dental hygiene teaching was also delivered.
