Pediatric oral health project on Aneityum Island, Southern Vanuatu....

[Techo NZ]

Just sharing a video of an oral health project we have been working on for the island of Aneityum in Southern Vanuatu.

We are a volunteer team from New Zealand that have been going there for the last few years.

About 200 children attend the local school and pediatric oral health is being exasperated by the introduction of sugar and sweets from tourists and visitors. I have personally seen a sailboat arrive and send their kids ashore to give out BAGS of lollipops !

A year ago we provided 10 electric tooth brushes and every child has their own electric brush head. The brushes are kept in the Helt Centa (Health Centre) and charged by a small amount of solar power.

At 20 seconds in you can see an old guitar case that has been converted for storing 200 individual brush heads. All the positions are numbered and the brush heads are individually numbered for each child. We provide new heads every 3-4 months.

The community has totally engaged with the project and we have increased this to 20 electric tooth brushes so each school day the children walk in groups of 20 from the school to the Helt Centa and solar-electric brush their teeth.

 

[Techo NZ]

 

[MattKW]

Fantastic job! Hope it delivers great dividends.

 

[honestdoc]

Techo NZ, thank you for your services!

 

[Techo NZ]

It cost about $1,200 for the hardware and freight to get it there which works out at $6 per child.

Ongoing costs are $600 a year for 2 large tubes of toothpaste per week, and another $600 per year for replacement heads every 4 months (thanks Ebay !), which works out at $6 per child per year (12c per child per week) . That’s a pretty good bang for ya oral health buck

 

[Techo NZ]

Sitting around the fire at night (swatting misquitoes) we blue-sky think about expanding it for everyone on the island, population 1,200.

We envisage a cyclone proof cupboard off the back of the Helt Centa with 20 or 30 solar powered electric toothbrushes and 1,200 brush heads with stainless benches and water taps and sinks.

The Helt Centa is central to the village so anyone at anytime can go and clean their teeth with their own brush head, and then we think we could duplicate this project in thousands of other remote villages around the world. Exciting stuff.

 

[Techo NZ]

6 of us leaving tomorrow, 2 days, 3 planes and a boat to get there. 200+kg of equipment and supplies, our personal clothing and toiletries is limited to our 7kg carry and to last us 2 weeks !

We have lots of projects going on:
We have begun advocating for cleft palettes with several successful operations already done.
We have 200 new toothbrush heads and more toothpaste and even after just 12 months of the 'Sola Leckie Pikinini Klin Tut Project " (Solar Electric Child Clean Tooth Project) we look forward to the data showing some oral health improvement.
And with our new portable mini X-Ray we can do high quality digital developing.

Another exciting project is underway to build a (cyclone proof) solar powered dental clinic on Aneityum Island ! so we can train the locals in oral health care and for visiting dentists to provide a higher level of care.

We are also designing and building portable solar powered dental carts, with electric hand pieces for high-slow and a triple syringe and scaler. and a total weight of only 10kg per system complete with a mini air compressor ! Designed to be light and easy to carry and to run on small solar systems.

We are super pleased to not just do 2 weeks of RoP and drill and fill but to build a legacy of a dental clinic and empower the island with a lifetime brushing program. Once we perfect this project we want to see it grow into the Pacific, or for that matter anywhere.
Not bad for a bunch of kiwi volunteers ha ha.
Our motto in Bislama is "Sua, tricki bae hemi no impossibol " ('"Sure is tricky but this thing is not always impossible ")
Here;' a link to our page. https://afriendofkokorosa.org/ a few videos of different projects.

If you like what we do there's even a donate button ;-) you're welcxome to sponsor next years toothpaste 'Tangkiu Tumas ' (thank you too much