Center for Health Market Innovations (CHMI)

Programs

Tabasamu Project

last updated Feb 20, 2012

Overview

Implementing organization: 
Anglican Church of Kenya
Implementation Partner(s): 
Anglican Church of Kenya Diocese of Kitale, Mwamba Church Ministries International and local dental professionals
Legal Status: 
Private (not-for-profit)
Year Launched: 
2004
Stage: 
Existing/expansion stage
Income Level of Target Population: 
Bottom 20%

Funding

Primary Source of Funding: 
Donor

Scale

Personnel Employed: 
10-49
Summary: 

Tabasamu has a mission to provide free dental care, free dental education and preventative dental care to under served communities in the Anglican Diocese of Kitale in western Kenya and now Haiti. Tabasamu, which means “smile” in Swahili, is a dental outreach project comprised of volunteer dentists, hygienists, and others.

Key program components: 

Dentists in Kitale are few and far between with only three dentists for the 300,000 people living in the area. Even if more dentists were available, the cost of dentistry is prohibitive for the majority of native Kenyans. As a result, preventive dental knowledge is generally inadequate among many Kenyans, who end up seeking dental treatment only for emergencies such as extractions and infections. The Tooth Tour provides a service to the people of Kitale by bringing puppet shows and hands-on oral hygiene demonstrations directly to the local churches in the area.

Tabasamu realized that some of the dental challenges faced by the community could be met if the young people could be treated with sealants and fluoride, and if the young people as well as the adults had a better understanding of proper oral hygiene and diet, that prevent health disease. The project responded by creating its Tooth Tours program, which is a mobile educational program that seeks to educate school children on the benefits and techniques of proper oral hygiene and a low-sugar diet.

Tabasamu hopes that the information shared during Tooth Tour presentations can continue to be shared and spread and now conducts seminars designed to give local teachers advanced training to help them educate their students in the style of the Tooth Tours, thereby continuing their mission. Tabasamu also seeks to continue to provide young people with sealant and fluoride treatments, which will greatly diminish the amount of tooth decay they experience.

Program history: 

Tabasamu is a dental outreach project that was founded by Dr. Edward W. Wilson in 2004.

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