BRITISH DENTAL SECTOR COMPANIES VISIT TANZANIA TO SEE THE WORK OF A CHARITY BASED IN MWANZA

A group of industry leaders from the UK visited Tanzania at the end of February to see the work of Bridge2Aid.

The charity, based in Mwanza, works with volunteer dentists and dental nurses from the UK who teach emergency dental skills to rural Clinical Officers in Tanzania. Working within the national healthcare system, and with the support of the government, Bridge2Aid has now been working in Tanzania for over 10 years. Their strategy is to put skills into the hands of local health professionals so that dental pain relief is available to local communities for many years to come.

The delegates included directors from some of the UK’s largest dental companies (including Henry Schein, Quadralene, Oasis Dental Care, FMC & Straumann). All are supporters of the work of Bridge2Aid. During their trip they were accompanied by Bridge2Aid’s Patron, Professor David Homeli Mwakyusa, former Minister of Health. Their programme included visits to a rural clinic where Bridge2Aid are training, a meeting with government officials and a trip to Bridge2Aid’s social enterprise Hope Dental Centre in Mwanza. These visits aimed to help delegates appreciate the work of Bridge2Aid first hand, and to see how the people of Tanzania are benefiting.

Jason Newington, Managing Director of publishing company FMC said: “I had an amazing and humbling day watching the Bridge2aid volunteers at work. To see the life changing effect their work has on the lives of the local people who have suffered for so long with pain, was truly incredible. Bridge2aid are simply making a massive difference to the community and its clear that the years of hard work and persistence by the team and volunteers has paid off”.

Professor Mwakyusa commented: “I have witnessed Bridge2Aid making a tangible, long-term change in the health infrastructure in Tanzania. By training rural health workers in emergency dentistry skills they are empowering local communities and by so doing making a difference, and I am proud to be associated with an organization that is promoting truly sustainable solutions with such passion and integrity.”


Since 2004 Bridge has trained over 400 Clinical Officers in Tanzania. They teach simple and effective basic dental techniques that use dental hand instruments. When they have passed their training, the Clinical Officers are given a set of hand instruments and a steam steriliser which means that they can carry on providing emergency dental treatment in remote rural areas. By means of these training programmes over 4 million people in rural Tanzania now have access to pain-relieving dental treatment that was not previously available locally. To find out more about the work of Bridge2Aid please visit www.bridge2aid.org.