Himalayan Dental Mobile Camp
The project, carried out thanks to the 8×1000 funds of the Italian Buddhist Union, aims to reach the villages of the Tsum valley, located at over 3000 meters above sea level, to allow the inhabitants to take advantage of free dental care and education on oral hygiene. A team of a dentist, a dental hygienist and a social worker will reach the remote villages after a 5 – 6 day trek.
Project Map
The context
Nepal is one of the poorest countries in Asia. Despite recent progress, a quarter of the population still lives below the poverty line and half (48%) are illiterate. The provision of health and access to health services, despite the efforts made in recent decades by public health, are often precarious, especially in rural and more remote areas. In addition, the conditions of widespread poverty seriously affect the health of the population, especially children. In fact, 41% of children under 5 suffer from malnutrition.
Activities
In this context, the health intervention of Doctors for Peace fits in, with the aim of continuing the project in Nepal by guaranteeing access to dental care even to the inhabitants of the remote villages of the Tsum valley, not accessible through the road network. To this end, a team consisting of a dentist, a dental hygienist and a social worker will manage a mobile dental clinic (the Himalayan Dental Mobile Camp), to carry out first-level interventions for pathologies such as caries, periodontal diseases, gingivitis and periodontitis, and oral hygiene education.
The team will reach the Tsum valley after a 5 or 6-day trek, and will set up two base camps, lasting 16 days each, with the aim of visiting and treating people who, properly informed, will converge from neighboring communities.
The initiative is aimed at the most vulnerable social categories, in particular the inhabitants of villages located at over 3000 meters above sea level, who hardly have access to care. The direct recipients of the project will be 1200 people, while health education will reach the entire community, for a total of about 12,000 inhabitants.
