DT News - UK - Henry Schein and International College of Dentists donate medical supplies

Dental Tribune International

Tue. 30 December 2015

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GILLINGHAM, UK/NAIROBI, Kenya: Henry Schein UK has donated dental and medical supplies to two outreach camps that are held to serve and provide care to more than 1,600 vulnerable and at-risk Kenyans living in remote areas. The supplies were donated through Henry Schein Cares, the company’s global corporate social responsibility program.

Additional supplies for the camps were donated by the ICD Global Visionary Fund. The GVF is the tax-advantaged charitable arm of the International College of Dentists, the world’s oldest and largest international honour society for dentists.

The first camp, a Dental Camp, was organised by the staff of the Kikuyu Hospital Dental Clinic. At the camp, more than 200 residents of all ages, living in the Ruthimitu community—an informal settlement near Nairobi, Kenya’s capital—were provided with a range of services and support, including blood pressure measurements, medicines, oral health education and oral health care. PCEA Chogoria Hospital held the second camp, the Chogoria Hospital Medical Camp. Similar to the first camp, the second was held in a remote, resource-strained area of Kenya. 1,400 people were provided with care, of which 250 were seen by a dental team comprised of three Dental Community Oral Health Officers and two assistants, who performed 200 extractions. Both camps were assisted by volunteer healthcare and dental professionals from the United States.

Simon Gambold, Managing director at Henry Schein Dental UK, said: “A core feature of our commitment to expanding access to care is to enhance wellness, prevention, treatment and education on a global basis, particularly in areas lying outside the reach of traditional care sites. We are delighted to be joined by the International College of Dentists in fulfilling this commitment, and we look forward to working with the organization on future outreach projects.”

“The International College of Dentists is proud to have worked with Henry Schein UK on this important outreach,” said ICD Fellow, Dr Bill Hunter. “Kenya continues to suffer from severe maldistribution of oral care, with urban pockets claiming almost the entire population of dental professionals. While we cannot correct systemic inequalities in access, we can do our part in alleviating the dental health burden borne by many rural Kenyans.”

In Kenya, a country with more than 44 million people, there is only one dentist per approximately 150,000 Kenyans, according to “The Oral Health Atlas: Mapping a Neglected Global Health Issue” (The Oral Health Atlas), a publication by the FDI World Dental Federation, a leading professional dental organisation worldwide. For the entire country, this translates into a professional population of only 293 dentists, most of whom are located in urban centres. In comparison, the United Kingdom, with a population of approximately 64 million, has a dentist for nearly every 3,000 people, totalling more than 21,000 dentists for the entire country. In East Africa, only Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea have a higher patient population per dentist, as indicated by The Oral Health Atlas.

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