Annual Review 2012Global Child Dental Fund

www.gcdfund.org

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Welcome to our Annual Review 2012Last year we published the brochure “Reflections and Progress 2011–2015”, which sets out our strategic plan for the forthcoming years. During this past year we have worked in accordance with this plan through four main areas of activity: leadership development, promoting social responsibility especially among young members of the dental profession, expanding our Smiles & Hopes projects, and finally, supporting our sister organisation the Alliance for a Cavity-Free Future.

This year King’s College London successfully hosted our Senior Dental Leaders programme (SDL-6). As in previous years, we selected two legacy projects to take forward in support of the delegates who attended. These projects were first to develop an African dental network in the Eastern, Central and Southern countries of the continent. Second, to develop a Pacific dental network to support the Solomon Islands.

The African network is gaining traction and this summer we funded a full-time dental therapist to work with children with HIV in Zambia. Further to this, national oral health programmes were initiated in Malawi andKenya. In the first quarter of 2013, we will fund a 2-day residential meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, for all the network partners to meet and coordinate their future activities.

The Pacific network has seen numerous exchanges between the Solomon Islands and Australia/ New Zealand, with a national oral health survey currently being formulated. It is planned that the dental school Dean of Fiji will attend the SDL-7 programme next year. With her assistance we anticipate further development of the Pacific network.

This summer we successfully launched an E-depository website as part of the Indian

Strategy project for voluntary projects.. This exciting initiative has given us the confidence to also develop another initiative which will enable UK undergraduates to document their overseas dental electives. These projects signal the start of a broaderprogramme that highlights good practicein overseas volunteering, and increases awareness amongst the dental profession of our global social responsibility.

Through our various Smiles & Hopes projects and the SEAL Cambodia initiative, we have worked with a large number of dental professionals and volunteers who, between them, are directly treating thousands of disadvantaged children. This year has also seen the continuation of our symbiotic relationship with the Alliance for a Cavity-Free Future.

As the year draws to a close, I would like to extend warm greetings and thanks to every person and organisation that has contributedto our work in 2012. This includes the Charity’s core staff and Trustees, our sponsors Colgate-Palmolive and Henry Schein, and our friends and supporters. Most importantly, though, we are extremely thankful to the dedicated individuals who have helped us implement our programmes this year. It is through their tireless efforts, day-in day-out, that the world’s most disadvantaged children have a brighter future and better smile.

Further details of our work can also be found at our website www.gcdfund.org

Professor Raman BediChairman, Global Child Dental Fund

HelpingHundreds of dedicated volunteers, students, dentists and health professionals enable us to reach out to the world’s most disadvantaged children, on the ground and in their communities.

Smiles & Hopes is our direct aid programme that targets children in various countries who have been orphaned as a result of illness, neglect or conflict. Invariably, the orphanages are oversubscribed, understaffed and lacking the resources necessary to provide dental care.

SEAL Cambodia brings together the Cambodian dental profession, NGOs, and the Ministries of Health and Education, in order to provide treatment to disadvantaged children. It is only through a nationwide coalition that the blight of dental disease in Cambodia, amongst the worst in the developing world, can be tackled.

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CambodiaOur work in Cambodia is now in its fourth year of operation. To date, the programme has worked with more than 20 orphanages, treated over 2,500 orphans, and provided basic healthcare training for over 100 orphanage carers. Numerous toothbrushing programs have been implemented, fluoride varnish has been applied to the children’s teeth on the programme twice a year, and all the orphans have received basic dental and health care during this period.

We believe this project has significantly improved the lives of these children, and helped build the capacity of the orphanage staff so they can provide better care.

We are most grateful to all of our sponsors for supporting this project.

From 2013 onwards, SEAL Cambodia will be our main focus in Cambodia (see overleaf).

TanzaniaThis programme started in 2011 as a small initiative supporting just the Forever Angels orphanage in Mwanza. This year, though, we were pleased to be able to work with two more orphanages: the Kuleana Street Children’s Centre and Watoto Wa.

In February, Prue Preston and her colleague Dr Pedja Pavlovic spent three days examining 150 orphans for dental decay. Their teeth were coated with protective fluoride varnish and they were instructed about proper brushing techniques. The children particularly enjoyed practicing with the giant toothbrush and teeth model that we provided!

Many children at the Kuleana Centre required root canals and dentures. Their poor oral health was caused mainly through the consumption of fizzy drinks and sweets. By comparison, the Watoto Wa orphans tend to come from farming communities and do not eat sugary foods. For them, Prue’s job was to explain and encourage good dental habits. Armed with new toothbrushes, these children demonstrated heartening eagerness to keep their teeth clean. We look forward to supporting them next year.

AfghanistanWe are working in the city of Sheberghan with a London-based NGO ‘Global Partners’ (GP), who have been running healthcare projects in Afghanistan since 1993. Together, we are implementing an ‘Oral Health Education Project’. The aim is to teach thousands of schoolchildren how to care for their teeth and gums, and provide them and their families with toothbrushes and toothpaste.

We completed the pilot phase this year. Our findings indicated that it would be best for toothbrushing to happen at home, and after each mother has been educated about the value of good oral health and proper brushing technique. In early 2013 we will be undertaking Phase 1, in which we will educate approximately 4,300 children and mothers. Phase 2 will see a further 7,500 children receiving teaching and teeth-cleaning supplies, along with the same education and kits for their parents.

This project is unique in that it provides lasting education and training through the establishment of an Oral Hygiene Educator at each school. We hope this approach will significantly reduce the number of cases of curative care.

Smiles & Hopes

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ZambiaLaunched in September 2012, this programme is a partnership with ‘Lifeline in Zambia’, a Zambia-based NGO working with families affected by AIDS and HIV.

Due to a lack of dental services in rural Zambia, there are no professional dental clinics available to those suffering from poor dental health. To make matters worse, often these families can’t even afford a diet that is sufficiently nutritious for their HIV medications to be effective. Our work is targeting 1,000 disadvantaged children from these families – most of whom are HIV positive – from eight rural communities.

Elastus Chonde, an alumni of our 2012 Senior Dental Leaders Programme, is managing the project as Lifeline’s Specialist Dental Therapist and Dental Project Manager. Writing in November, he commented:

“Kunda Lwipa (opposite)suffers from severe epilepsy. He lives with his aunty who has neglected him because she doesn’t know how to handle his frequent epileptic fits. When examining Kunda, I found he was suffering from extreme calculus and build-up of food debris.

I showed him a toothbrush and toothpaste and began giving him instruction on how to use them. After many hours of emphasis and repeated instructions, Kunda slowly learned to brush his own teeth.”

Elastus Chonde

‘The cases I witnessed really touched my heart. I found widespread tooth decay and heavy calculus. Sadly, most children could not a handle toothbrush; some had never even seen one.

I have now treated 721 children. Check-ups and oral hygiene instructions are being administered, and with the support of Colgate-Palmolive Zambia, toothpaste and toothbrushes are being distributed. Slowly we are helping these children smile again. ”

Smiles & Hopes continued...

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KenyaIn November, Professor Bedi assisted with the launch of the Kenyan Paediatric Dental Association in Nairobi. Remarkably, this will be only the second Dental Paediatric Association in the whole of the African continent.

The president of the association, Dr Arthur Kemoli, invited Professor Bedi to support the association as its Global Ambassador. Professor Bedi was also conferred an honorary member of the association.

At the launch, Dr Kemoli and Professor Bedi announced a three year dental aid programme for Kenya. This will entail hosting all of the country’s oral health workers in Nairobi each year for a two-day residential oral health leadership programme. Additionally, the association will receive US$ one million worth of oral health products over the three-year period to help improve the dental health of needy Kenyan children.

SEAL Cambodia

This year we partnered with CamKids (the Cambodian Children’s charity) and One-2-One Cambodia in order to treat 60,000 school children in Phnom Penh over a three year period through a ‘SEAL Cambodia’ programme.

The treatment involves sealing each child’s teeth with a fissure sealant. Sealants help prevent decay by protecting the chewing surfaces and keeping out germs and food, which, if left, lead to decay.

The project began in Summer 2012, as One-2-One Cambodiacompleted treatment at three schools. All grade two students for the following schools were examined and had sealants applied: the Methodist School, Toul Kork; Primary School, Ta Kmao; PrekHor School,Ta Kmao. During this initial period of work, our first international volunteer group, UK-based charity Dentaid, worked with our SEAL teams to help treat an entire Grade 2 cohort at one school.

The roll-out of the project continues with clinical protocols and other supporting documentation now complete, and with training for further partner organisations occurring in December 2012. Our SEAL teams are actively engaged in treating children in new schools, and finding potential schools to focus on. Training at the dental nurse Regional Training Centre in Kampong Cham will take place in January 2013, and roll out for schools in Kampong Cham will happen shortly thereafter.

The project has gotten off to a slightly slower start than we had initially planned for. However, significant progress has been made, and there are many positive signs that we will be able to meet our target of sealing 20,000 children in the first 12 months.

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Cambodian children have one of the highest dental decay rates in children around the world. Studies show that the average 5 year old has between 8-10 decayed primary teeth. Without access to dental treatment or preventive care at an early age, this saddening trend will continue.

Enabling leadership

Training and developing dental leaders who can spearhead organisational change is critical to achieving the aim of eradicating preventable dental disease around the world.

Our leadership programme offers a unique platform for open discussion, exchange of experiences as well as problem-solving. As such, it is an invaluable forum for globallearning and support within the profession. We are already witnessing the benefits of the first six programmes, as many alumni have gone on to organise successful and sustainable prevention initiatives, both nationally and internationally.

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Senior Dental Leaders

In March, 15 delegates attended our sixth Senior Dental Leaders Programme (SDL-6). It is our hope that tens of thousands of lives will be improved for the better as a result of the learning, networking and skill-sharing that took place. The reason for such a bold aspiration is that the SDL programme is run to enable those working in healthcare at the highest levels to deliver transformative change.

The programme brings together leaders from dental schools, NGOs and government bodies from aroundthe world – all of whom share the desire to improve their country’s dental provision from the top down. In past years, delegates have attended from numerous countries. This year’s cohort was no different, with attendeesfrom five African countries – Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe – as well as Oman, the Solomon Islands, New Zealand, Australia and both North and South America. Due to the diversity of backgrounds and experiences, the week-long conference was buzzing with energy and purpose. The delegates

digested lectures, learnt from one another and worked in teams to develop strategic theoretical and practical solutions for global oral health challenges.

Figures from our corporate sponsors Colgate-Palmolive and Henry Schein provided key insight into their experiences in dentistry, and offered practical advice for the different situations the delegates may find themselves in. Speakers also included the Dental Deans of Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Dr Bruce Donoff, and Dr Dianne Rekow of King’s College London, as well as previous KCL Dental Institute Dean, Dr Nairn Wilson. Their advice for the training of young dental professionals, and the development of new levels of leadership, helps further the mission of preventing caries in children.

As in past years, we hope the 2012 delegates will partner with us in our work with the world’s most disadvantaged children, either in their home countries, or in the countries of the delegates they met on the programme.

2012 was the first year of the Tony Volpe Award, in honour of Dr Tony Volpe, our Trustee and the Vice President of Colgate’s Clinical Research and Scientific Development department. This prestigious award is a scholarship to attend the SDL programme.

This year’s winners were Dr Fiona Makoni (former Chief Dental Officer and current Dental School Dean), Zimbabwe and Mr Enock Phale (Chief Dental Officer), Malawi. Our congratulations go out to them for this distinction, and we look forward to working with them in the coming years.

From l to r: Professor Raman Bedi, Dr Fiona Makoni and Dr Tony Volpe

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SupportingOur mission is to work with the world’s most disadvantaged children. However, we are not the only organisation working to improve the dental health of children around the world – global dental disease is simply too big an issue for any single organisation to overcome.

We are proud to be a part of an ecosystem of other charities and associations that are also working to eliminate, globally, dental cavities. It is vital that we all support each other in this fight. To this end, we are always keen to find common ground, seek synergies and work collaboratively.

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MalawiNational Oral H ealth Awareness Campaign Launch

We are honoured to be able to offer our full support to our SDL-6 scholar, Enock Phale, who has launched Malawi’s first National Oral Health Awareness Campaign “Bright Smile Bright Future”. Enock attended SDL-6 in his capacity as Malawi’s head of the Ministry of Health, where the plans for this campaign initially began.

The nationwide campaign targets 500,000 children, centering on oral health education via print and electronic media, public talks, oral anomaly screening and fluoride treatment using toothpaste courtesy of Colgate Malawi.

Enock has done a tremendous job in garnering support and encouragement from both governmental and non- governmental agencies, including the Chairman of the City of Muzu. Special thanks also go to Dentaid-UK for donating two dental chairs to the project. It was a privilege to look on as Enock laid the groundwork for this wonderful campaign, and we will be extending our support to him into 2013 as this project continues to develop.

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The Alliance for a Cavity-Free FutureOn the 31st August 2012, Professor Bedi attended the third annual meeting of the ACFF in Hong Kong. Also in attendance were the ACFF Chairman Professor Nigel Pitts, key figures from Colgate-Palmolive and numerous clinical

and integrated health experts. Professor Bedi and Professor Pitts gave the 3rd Global ACFF annual report, and much progress was made in consolidating achievements since the ACFF’s launch in 2010.

Enock Phale was awarded the 2012 Tony Volpe Award. From l to r: Professor Raman Bedi, Enock Phale and Dr Tony Volpe

Developing social

responsibilityIn the fight against global dental disease, we believe it is not enough to simply implement existing practices and ideas. Since day one it has been in our DNA to strive to find innovative approaches to developing social responsibility in dentistry – both to try to motivate the hearts and minds of our profession, and to lead by example.

This year, we have sought to bring together and mobilise the Indian Health Diaspora through the innovative new programmes that comprise our Indian Strategy. We hope the social movement we have instigated will over time bring transformative change to India’s dental health services.

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This broad-ranging project has developed as a response to the findings of the book co-authored by Professor Bedi: “Indian Health Professionals Around the World: A Common Agenda”. The primary aim of the Indian Strategy is to increase social responsibility amongst dental health-

The Facebook GroupLaunched in June, the purpose of the group is to develop a social movement that can proactively tackle India’s most desperate public health needs, with particular emphasis on mobilising Indian dental healthcare professionals. The movement now counts over 3,000 active members and is growing steadily.

Some of the group activities include open discussions based on a ‘question of the week’, dissemination of dental educational materials and updates to dental professionals about vital issues on social responsibility. In 2013 we plan to integrate our Facebook presence with our new E-Depository site (see overleaf).

The Indian Oral Health SurveyIn parallel with the development of the Facebook Group, we also carried out our ‘Indian Oral Health Survey’. Run in the form of a digital questionnaire on our website, the aim was to glean insight about the perceived problems facing dental professionals within India, and in time to provide guidance on how the wider Indian Diaspora can help solve them. The survey ran for 5 weeks and was completed by 1,194

dental health professionals. The main channels of distribution were the Facebook group, IDA, Colgate- Palmolive (India) and Mahesh Verma, the editor of Dentistry India. We are grateful to everyone who made this survey possible. The main findings were as follows: • A significant number of individuals perceived the current

standards of oral health in India as “somewhat bad”.

• There is a pressing need for government initiatives to improve these standards.

• The main challenges to tackle in the next 5 years are gum disease, dental caries, oral health awareness and oral cancer.

• There is a need to review and change the state of Indian dental education.

• Dentists practising in India would like their Indian counterparts living overseas to give back to their home country by way of mentoring programmes, charitable support initiatives, financial assistance and skill-sharing.

The Indian Strategy Project

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care professionals in India, as well as to encourage and support the individuals working to improve the current oral health conditions for the underprivileged Indian Diaspora. To date, the Indian strategy comprises four main areas of activity, which you can read about on the following pages.

The Indian Strategy Project continued...

E-Depository Website

Our innovative E-Depository launched at the end of November. At this time, the site enables us to promote and engage with Indian voluntary dental projects – either those presently active or thoserecently undertaken. In addition, the site encourages upcoming projects for which individuals are seeking support.

As part of our work on the E-Depository, weare initiating our own voluntary campaign, entitled “Bringing our sons and daughters back home”. This campaign seeks to engage both the hearts and minds of the Indian Healthcare Diaspora. Through “Hearts” we aim to encourage dental professionals living outside of India – particularly those of Indian descent – to support voluntary dental projects in India. Through “Minds” we are asking dentists of Indian origin around the world to help with mentoring, and to pass on technical skills to younger members of the profession in India.

For 2013 we are looking forward to expanding the E-Depository into a multi-purpose platform, not only for-voluntary opportunities, but also for engagement and interaction with the worldwide Indian Dental Diaspora.

SMILE-INDIA

Although there is a large number of dentists in India, our Indian Oral Health Survey revealed the dearth of dentists catering for the underprivileged.

We cannot avoid the need for organisations such as the GCDFund to run dental aid programmes in poor com-munities in India. To this end we have started planning operational and fundraising strategies for a ‘SMILE-INDIA’ project. Our aspiration is to channel assistance from the wider Indian Diaspora in order to provide free local dental provision for the most disadvantaged individuals in India.

This Autumn we launched an exciting initiative that has the potential to make a real difference to the lives of disadvantaged children.

Time Flies offers surgeries the chance to demonstrate their commitment to social responsibility. By donating to the initiative, surgeries can access fun educational materials for children to use in their waiting rooms, and the proceeds of the donation go to our causes for disadvantaged children around the world.

Please take a look and download the materials for your surgery at: www.gcdfund.org/time-flies

You can also help us by telling others about Time Flies, as we seek to share it with surgeries all over the world!

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We are excited about 2013

Next year we will continue to pursue our four year strategy, working to fulfil the charity’s four key objectives: leadership development, expanding the Smiles & Hopes projects, developing social responsibility in dentistry and supporting The Alliance for a Cavity-Free Future.

In the Spring our 7th Senior Dental Leaders programme will take place at Harvard School of Dental Medicine. A record number of delegates are attending, including three from Iraq, and the largest proportion of women since the programme began. Our leadership activities are also set to expand as we will be funding residential leadership programmes for dental therapists and oral health professionals, initially in Kenya, and then in Timor Leste.

The existing Smiles & Hopes projects will carry on, and we expect SEAL Cambodia to achieve its ambitious targets.

What’s next?

In developing countries dental decay means at best discomfort, and at its very worst crippling pain and life-threatening risk of infection. Your gift will directly prevent suffering for children around the world. If you would like to support our work please make a donation online at www.gcdfund.org. You can also send a donation by post if you prefer. Please make cheques payable to ‘The Global Child Dental Fund’ and post to Rooms 329-331, 26-29 Drury Lane, London, WC2B 5RL with your name, address, telephone number and email.

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Please help us continue to do this vital work

In November we also announced a US$1 million campaign over 3 years in Kenya, which will commence next year.

Early next year we are launching a new web presence dedicated to social responsibility. For this opportunity we thank Colgate-Palmolive for their support. Look out for it – it’s a game changer!

Leadership per se is fine, but it is best developed strategically and collaboratively. That is why we align with the Alliance for Cavity-free Future, whose website contains evidence-based clinical procedures and community orientated projects, both of which are already providing a major uplift to the oral health of children and adults.

Pursuing these four dimensions of the charity’s activities over the course of 2013 will enable us to improve the dental health of even more of the world’s most disadvantaged children.

ChairmanProfessor Raman Bedi

Trustees

Dr Marion BergmanDr Tony VolpeMr Richard Price

If you would like to know how you can help us improve the dental health of the most disadvantaged children worldwide, please contact us:

Email: info@gcdfund.org Visit: www.gcdfund.org

Global Child Dental Fund Rooms 329-331 26-29 Drury LaneLondon WC2B 5RL

Registered charity no: 1125850 (England & Wales)

Thank you to our main supporters: