: A British dental charity has announced that it will help to train local clinical workers in Rwanda.
: A British dental charity has announced that it will help to train local clinical workers in Rwanda. Volunteer dentists will give instruction in routine dental procedures to bring better access to oral health care to rural communities in the country. The organisation is planning to start work next year.
In an interview, Ian Wilson, co-founder and Clinical Director of Bridge2Aid, told the BBC recently that his organisation is aiming to set up a new pilot project in collaboration with the Rwandan government and Survivors Fund (SURF), a UK-based organisation that supports survivors of the 1994 genocide.
“Rwanda is an amazing country and our hope is that we bring a sustainable contribution to serve the rural communities, just as we’ve been able to do with so many isolated settlements in Tanzania,” Wilson said.
According to Bridge2Aid, the East African country has only 11 dentists for a population of 11 million people, which gives a dentist to patient ratio of 1 to 800,000. Owing to a lack of trained personnel, most people do not have access to dental care. In addition, 80 per cent of the population live in rural areas, whereas 100 per cent of dental professionals live in cities or towns.
Bridge2Aid is based in Garforth, Leeds. The organisation has already trained more than 160 local health workers in Tanzania since 2002. Today, they train over 50 health workers each year.
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