Kenya Smiles

transcript

2014 ROTARY INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION

A Model Program for Improving Children’s Oral Health in

Kenya, East Africa, & Beyond

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Moderator: PDG Bill Gray Panel members: PDG Laura Day,

Dr. Stephen Irungu, Dr. Sheila Hurst

Kenya Smiles

2011-12 District 7040 Governor Bill Gray

Rotary Club of Cataraqui-Kingston

Endowment/Major Gifts Advisor, Zone 24 East

Director, Rotary Action Group for Microfinance & Community Development

The Rotarian, February 2014

prepare traditional grain- and produce-based meals. Team member Jim Green, a member of the Rotary Club of West Calaveras, Calif., expects that the 12-hour days the group spent in the field will pay divi-dends as mothers instill good habits in their children. “No mother in the world wants any-thing but good things for her children,” Green says.

The educational compo-nent is what sets Kenya Smiles apart from many other dental projects, says team member Maureen Valley, an ortho-dontist on the faculty of the University of the Pacific in San Francisco. Some tradi-tional dental missions tally success by teeth drilled and extracted, she notes. “There’s been so little attention to attacking the root cause with education and intervention.”

Peter DuBois, executive director of the California Den-tal Association, concurs: “This program is working with the dental community in Kenya to enhance the oral health of the Kenyan population” by lever-aging the resources of Rotary, governmental, and medical leaders. “I have never seen a program quite like it.”

DuBois, whose 25,000-member organization serves a state with roughly the same population as Kenya’s, arranged meetings with dental profes-sionals for the Kenyan VTT delegation and brought the team members to the floor of the California State Assem-bly, where they were recognized by lawmakers.

The project is good news in a place where “the only thing

they can do is extract teeth,” says Jeff Bamford, past Kenya country chair and charter pres-ident of the Rotary Club of Karen-Nairobi.

“Yes, we need more dentists and more mobile facilities, ”

Bamford continues, “but right at the beginning, we need to make sure that tooth decay happens as little as possible.” He is heartened that the proj-ect’s biggest evangelists have been the children themselves.

“I see the kids with great big smiles on their faces. When we talk to them, they’re so juiced about it. We can see the knowledge spread from one grade to another.”

– BRAD WEBBER

UP FRONT

In July, 5,000 children in Kenya received backpacks filled with items such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, and collapsible cups. The Kenya Smiles project also funds education for mothers and helps train local dentists.

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Fewer than 1,000 dentists serve the 44 million peo-ple of Kenya, from the far

reaches of the bush to Nai-robi’s vast Kibera slum. Den-tal hygiene is a rarity outside privileged urban regions. “In most rural areas, people have to travel long distances to see a dentist, ” says Stephen Irungu, chief dental officer at Kenya’s Ministry of Health and past president of the Ro-tary Club of Murang’a. “Most of the patients will go to the

dental clinic only because they have pain.”

Cultural norms suggest that “it’s OK if your teeth fall out, if your teeth are broken. They think people are not going to die from it,” says Past District Governor Geeta Manek.

Those perceptions belie the fact that tooth decay is the most common chronic disease of childhood and a harbinger of health woes in later years, says Karen Sokal-Gutierrez, a physician trained

in pediatrics, preventive medi-cine, and public health with the Joint Medical Program of the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California, San Francisco. “We worry about AIDS and malaria and TB among the world’s poor, but tooth decay is so much more common,” she says. “Unfortunately, it’s always been neglected,” even as processed and sugared foods proliferate in develop-ing nations.

Enter Kenya Smiles, a proj-ect created by Sheila Hurst, an educational consultant and member of the Rotary Club of Redding West, Calif., and Laura Day, 2012-13 governor of District 5160. The partner-ship with the Rotary Club of Karen-Nairobi – which also received support from dis-tricts 9212 (Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, and South Sudan) and 6150 (Arkansas) – was part of a global grant that brought a vocational training team (VTT) of six Kenyan dentists, including Irungu, to California in April 2013 for meetings, seminars, and training.

In July, 10 Americans, including Hurst, Day, and Sokal-Gutierrez, made the trip to Kenya, where they distrib-uted four suitcase-size portable dental operating units, educa-tional materials, and 5,000 Rotary-blue backpacks filled with toothbrushes, toothpaste, and collapsible stainless-steel cups – dubbed “magic cups” by their young recipients. A $10 donation funded each kit.

The team demonstrated how to use the kits with a hippo hand puppet, an oversize tooth and brush, and a white-board game with magnetic cutouts representing health-ful and unhealthful foods and drinks, which pupils tried to swipe away. “The message was ‘which one is going to stick to your teeth?’” Hurst says. “There would be laughter and smiles when the food would slide off.”

The project is also fund-ing nutrition education for mothers, along with locally manufactured, energy-efficient Jiko stoves to make it easier to

K E N YA S M I L E S

Project gets to the root of dental problems

UP FRONT

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The Rotarian, August 2013

Kenya Smiles

Breakout Session at the Rotary International Convention

Sydney, Australia

How did this happen?

We’d like to describe how we

1.  Identified a problem worth doing. 2.  Identified some ways to address the

problem.

3. Found funding to help address the problem we identified.

Charter Member and Past President, Rotary Club of Murang’a, District 9212

Dr. Stephen Irungu Macharia

Chief Dental Officer of Kenya

43 million people, 42 tribes

Kenya Ministry of Health

… is committed to Kenya Smiles and will give all the support possible.

Identifying the Problem

Kenya 43 million people 1,000 dentists California 38 million people 30,000 dentists

Canada 35 million people 23,000 dentists

We volunteer in rural clinics.

And in the slums of Nairobi.

We provide free dental care.

The Kenya Dental Association

takes its mobile caravan to schools.

teaching children how to brush.

Dentists Volunteer at Schools

Dental School Students and Interns

also serve the community in free clinics.

#1 Vocational Training Team of 6

From Kenya to Northern California - April 2013

Dr. Jane Wamai Kenya Dental Association National Chairwoman Government Dentist

Dr. Stephen Irungu Chief Dental Officer

Kenya Ministry of Health

Dr. Regina Mutave Nairobi University Dental School Department Chair, Periodontology/ Community & Preventive Dentistry KDA Council member

Dr. Linus Ndegwa Dentist In Charge

Aga Khan University Hospital Nairobi KDA Council Secretary

Dr. Kimathi Mwongera Meru Dental Services Public Health Lecturer, Kenya Methodist University

Dr. Peter Gaitho Director & Dental Surgeon Everest Dental Group, Ltd.

Rotary Club of Meru

UC San Francisco Dental School

UOP Dental School in San Francisco

University of California Berkeley

Henry Schein Dental Workshop in California

California Dental Association

Honored by the California State Assembly

Vocational Training Team of 10

Northern California to Kenya - July 2013

Both Vocational Training Teams in Nairobi

University of Nairobi Dental School

Instruction and training for faculty & students

Professional consultations and demonstrations

At the Kenya Dental Association

4 continuing education classes

Sheila Hurst

Rotary Club of Redding West, District 5160 Kenya Smiles Project Leader

Addressing the Problem

Improving the Oral Health Of Children in Kenya

through a Sustainable, Easily Adapted, Dental

Preventive Care Program

Kenya Smiles

Rotarians of District 9200/9212

2012-13 District 9200 Governor Geeta Manek

Rotary Club of Karen-Nairobi Past Country Chair Jeff Bamford

4 Aseptico mobile operatories

Dentists can better treat underserved children.

Equipment and supplies for children’s treatment.

Improved dental care for children.

New funding for children in Mukuru Slum.

Screening, oral prophylaxis, and dental treatments

The dental exam isn’t really scary.

Clean teeth = a bright smile.

Dental supplies are available & affordable.

How Does It Work?

Building AWARENESS Providing INFORMATION Promoting EDUCATION

Healthy foods and drinks are widely available.

Agriculture and food production are key economic activities in Kenya.

Other options are increasingly abundant. Inexpensive, sugar-based, highly processed

foods and drinks are heavily marketed.

Nutrition Education for Mothers & Caregivers Training the Trainers in nutrition education–

in rural villages near Meru Town

600 local women taught in their local language by local trainers.local

Nutrition Education Classes in Meru

Learning to grow and prepare healthy foods in healthy ways.

Learning to grow healthy foods.

Gardens grow in rows and around poles.

Preparing & enjoying healthy foods.

Energy Efficient Stoves

600 women now own and use locally manufactured jiko stoves.

A new series of classes has been sponsored by the Rotary Club of San Ramon. San

Ramon Rotary for a new Nutrition Education Course for women in Meru

Funding for More Nutrition Education

Water Pasteurization Indicator WAPI

Redding Christian Interact Club

Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Anderson Built 600 WAPIs for Kenya Smiles

Nutrition Education in Mukuru Slum, Nairobi

Information and activities about nutrition engaged 300 mothers and caregivers.

Families in Mukuru Slum attend classes.

Learning about nutrition, oral health, and dental care.

Enjoying nutritious snacks at the training.

Starting a women’s baking program .

An energy efficient oven for Mukuru Slum, Nairobi.

Students listen carefully to the local trainer.

Taking notes on the process.

Preparing the ingredients.

Healthy and delicious results.

Nutrition for Life Bakery is open for business!

Educational materials can make learning fun.

Oral Health & Nutrition Tool Kit

English Swahili

Healthy Snacks Magnetic Game

Puppets from Folkmanis

Involving the families

In rural villages in local languages by local health workers.

Dental care lessons for children

In Nairobi classrooms

In outdoor areas

New Funding for Oral Health Lessons

Supported by the Rotary Club of Walnut Creek

New Funding for Loitokitok Research Project

Support from UOP Dental School

Radio broadcasts about oral health

Interviews & call in shows - Ghetto Radio 99.9 FM

PDG Laura Day

2012-13 Governor District 5160 Rotary Club of San Ramon Valley

Funding the Project

Ø A $200,000+ Rotary Global Grant project Ø $53,000 raised $10 at a time in donations from

Rotary Clubs and individuals Ø Contributions from Rotary Districts 5160, 9212,

and 6150 Ø Matching funds from The Rotary Foundation Ø Additional gifts and donations bring the current

funding total to $450,000+

Dental Kits for 5000 Children

Rotarians and others were invited to contribute $10 to provide a child in Kenya with a dental care kit filled with supplies, materials, and instructions for dental care.

$53,000 was the result. 5000 children received dental kits & oral health lessons.

Dental supplies and print materials

Colgate Palmolive East Africa

The magic cup

The Donor Card

We delivered backpacks & lessons

In small slums near Nairobi

In the huge Kibera Slum in Nairobi

In outdoor school assemblies

In small rural schools

And in large urban schools

In really large rural schools

Oral health lessons with the dental supplies.

In a small pre-school in Kibera Slum, Nairobi.

And for really large groups

The children were exuberant,

Curious, Fascinated,

Grateful, and Joyous.

Their very own… to keep.

Charter Member and Past President, Rotary Club of Murang’a

Dr. Stephen Irungu Macharia

Chief Dental Officer of Kenya

Gifts to the University of Nairobi Dental School

from the UOP Dental School and Rotarian Dentists in California totaled $150,000+.

4 New Scholarships for Dental Students

Solano Sunset Rotary

Dr. Jim Green

Dave Naro, Antioch Rotary

Dale Woodruff, Grants Pass, OR

Kenya Smiles

Government & Nonprofit