SUMMARY
This multi-stakeholder project aims to develop a model for partnership between the Rwandan Dental School and District Hospitals throughout the country to effectively and consistently train the next generation of the community oral health workforce while simultaneously providing preventative oral health care to large numbers of children in rural communities often out of reach for health workers.
BACKGROUND
Located in East Africa, Rwanda is home to a population of over 12 million people. Despite significant investment and gains Rwanda has made in health in recent years, oral health remains drastically under-resourced. Throughout the country, oral health services are available at district, provincial and referral government hospitals and at select private clinics. At the village level, health posts provide only pain management and referrals to larger hospitals, leaving the rural population – approximately 70% according to the World Bank – largely without any oral heal services whatsoever.
According to the National Oral Health Survey completed in 2019, nearly all (98.7%) of those who sought oral care was due to pain, suggesting very low awareness of and a huge need for basic preventative oral health.
The University of Rwanda School of Dentistry – the only dental training institution in the country – is responsible for both dental surgery and dental therapy training. With a provider (including dental assistants, therapists and surgeons) to population ratio of approximately 1: 92,000 (as of 2011), the school has huge strides to make in closing the gap in the workforce.
Both the School of Dentistry and the District hospitals have mandates to carry out school-based outreach services, however, each institution has limited resources to act on this mandate.
Such large gaps and limited resources demand a focus on cost-effective prevention efforts rather than curative services, as well as collaborative and creative solutions to equitably achieve improved oral health for Rwandans.
THE SOLUTION
Building on the model of MCW Global’s Dental Therapy Outreach Training program in Tanzania, which provides practical training for dental therapy students in leadership and primary school-based oral health programs, this project aims to engage the University of Rwanda School of Dentistry, the District Hospital of Bugesera and SolarFi, to develop a model for sustainable high quality primary school oral health outreaches which can be replicated across the country.
Leveraging the potential of SolarFi’s solar powered kiosks will introduce additional learning methods for children and parents, provide effective on site treatment and link even the most remote schools to the country’s top experts at the School of Dentistry through e-dentistry technology.
Bugesera District will serve as a model for how the Dental School may roll out partnerships with District Hospitals across the country to simultaneously provide practical field-based training for dental therapists and to assist the districts across the country provide services to children in rural communities.
With such a framework in place, this project will simultaneously ensure that the next generation of Dental Therapists are prepared to be leaders in community oral health and that there is a system in place to support them and connect them after they are placed in rural communities.
OBJECTIVES
Develop a model for Dental School and District Hospital collaboration to sustainably run outreach services to rural schools throughout the country based on Public-Private-Partnership
Provide community-based practical training for dental therapist students
Provide school-based preventative oral health care to primary school children
Leverage solar technology to (1) coordinate digital, remote consultations with Kigali-based specialists at the Dental School and (2) reinforce education for children and parents