Smileawi and Bridge2Aid join forces to train Oral Health Promoters in Malawi
Learn how you can help support their work.
Smileawi and Bridge2Aid are two registered charities from opposite ends of the UK – but with common aims and objectives, and as a result have joined forces on a project to help improve oral health awareness, knowledge and practices within rural communities in Malawi.
Our first attempt at collaboration was disrupted by Covid-19 as the travel restrictions meant our plan to pilot Bridge2Aid’s successful Tanzanian programme of training Medical Officers to deliver emergency dental care had to be abandoned. However, as Scottish Government funding was in place for the pilot we were given the opportunity to reconfigure our funding application.
What followed involved a lot of hard work between the two charities, in partnership with The MalDent Project, ProDental CPD, Smile North dental therapists, the Dental Association of Malawi, and the relevant ministries in Malawi. Together we produced and delivered an online 12-module course to refresh, renew and equip 25 dental therapists in the northern Malawian district with the tools and knowledge to train community members to be Oral Health Promotors.
Despite many challenges, the course and its rollout to the communities was a huge success and we are very proud of the numerous Oral Health Promotors who are actively spreading vital oral health messages among nursery and school children, nursing mothers, refugees and wider village communities all over Northern Malawi.
We are now ready to roll out the course to the dental therapists in the Central and Southern regions and it has been a direct result of the generosity of the Scottish Dental Show that Bridge2Aid and Smileawi will be exhibiting at the show and have the opportunity to hold a joint fundraiser to carry this project forward.
On Friday the 20 June, the weekend of the Scottish Dental Show, we will be hosting A Midsummer Jamboree at the historic Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons on St Vincent Street in Glasgow’s city centre.
The night will start with a red carpet arrival through the ceremonial entrance with a piper – Iain Melvin – sponsored by Henry Schein, a drinks reception in the Lower Library sponsored by Park Orthodontics and featuring, for those interested, some historic dental artefacts. A three-course dinner will be served in the College Hall with an on table quiz sponsored by Chase de Vere and then dancing to the record breaking Big Smile Big Band until carriages arrive at midnight.
Please consider joining us on what is guaranteed to be a fun filled night to remember. Tickets are £70 or a table of 10 at £675; please bring your friends, family and or work colleagues and help us raise much needed funds at ‘The Midsummer Jamboree for Malawi‘.
Tickets are available from the QR code below:
