NEPAL - Himalayan Dental Mobile Clinic
The project offered free dental care and oral education to children and families living in villages located in the valleys adjacent to the Kathmandu Valley.
Project Map
The context
Nepal is one of the poorest countries in Asia. Despite the progress made in the fight against poverty, today a quarter of the population still lives below the poverty line and half of the population is illiterate (48%). The availability of healthcare provision and access to health services, despite the efforts made by public health in recent decades, is often precarious, especially in rural and remote areas. 40% of individuals have to make a 1-4 hour journey to reach the nearest health center. In urban areas, especially in Kathmandu, an overcrowded city, the services offered by the public health system are insufficient and unattainable for the poorest and most marginalized. Malnutrition and poor sanitation still have a serious impact on the health of the population, especially children.
Activities
In this context, the health intervention of Doctors for Peace has been inserted, with the aim of guaranteeing, through the management of a mobile dental clinic (the Himalayan Dental Mobile Clinic), access to dental care to the inhabitants of the villages south-west of Kathmandu. The project has promoted the health of the oral cavity of the population of the Himalayan villages, through an intervention strategy aimed at ensuring: – access to first-level dental care; – the prevention of dental pathologies through oral hygiene education provided within schools. The initiative was aimed at the most vulnerable social categories, in particular minors between the ages of 6 and 16 and their families in serious economic hardship. 1820 young students from the villages of Sokhel, Bhanjang, Satikhel, Chaaimale and Pharping were recipients of free dental care. The indirect beneficiaries of the initiative were the families and communities to which the direct beneficiaries belong, i.e. the 25,000 people residing in the villages in the Pharphing area.
