Dental Care

   Although dental care is not the first thing you think about in respect of poverty and development aid but oral health is an integral component of general health.

  Dental care is a necessity for a good general health. Nevertheless proper dental care is  for the disadvantaged inaccessible and prohibitive, irrespective of whether they live in some of the world's most wealthy or the world's poorest countries. Oral health problems remain a global problem and therefore must be a global concern.

  In the strong belief that only a healthy nation may form the layering foundations for a sound economic development, which assisted by educational progress shall procure in a stable and peaceful cooperation between groups of man, the "Oral Health Foundation Rwanda" (OHFR) wishes in joint-effort with the people of Rwanda to contribute to a better health of the poor farmers and less fortunate citizens in the inlands of that country. It wishes to achieve this by striving to supply in an adequate and more structural dental and oral care in Rwanda.

   In Rwanda most of the children have never seen a dentist and when they suffer with dental problems they don’t know where to go for dental care.

  The Oral Health Foundation Rwanda (OHFR) has set as goal the offering of oral care to specially the small inland communities by setting up an infrastructure of visiting oral specialized professionals, nick named "the Bare Feet Dentists". In cooperation with extant "health centres" it aims to prepare and carry out information to and training of the local people.

  Since there is a high rate of AIDS/HIV victims in Rwanda, the OHFR likes to pay special attention to the relation between AIDS/HIV and dental care. There are many dental health issues associated with HIV/AIDS. The OHFR will contribute to a better quality of life for HIV/AIDS patients and opens the opportunity to give better treatment.

  At present, a world without oral diseases is a dream.  It is up to us all, the international community as a whole to take decisive action to end the suffering of all these people. In my capacity as Goodwill Ambassador of the OHFR, I will do my best to foster an even stronger commitment to ensuring that the disadvantaged have access to proper oral health care resources to cultivate their hope for a better life.

George McCrae

Goodwill Ambassador