The UNC Malawi Dental Project seeks to accomplish the following aims:
1. Provide a cultural exchange between UNC students and Malawians.
2. Educate Malawian school aged children about oral health and hygiene and about the HIV/AIDS epidemic and risks associated with the disease (ages 6-18).
3. Provide emergency, preventive, and restorative care to those in need in the Lilongwe Hospital.
Visit the 2004 Gallery on the Photos page to view a slide show on About the Project.
Methods:
1. Provide a cultural exchange between UNC students and Malawians. UNC students will seek to nurture a natural cultural exchange. The will be various opportunities to share between UNC students and Malawians aside from formal activities. Students see this as an excellent opportunity to learn about Malawian culture and their views of the world and the US. They will seek to share their own backgrounds and interests.
All students will reside in Malawian homes which will facilitate an immersion experience and will teach a great deal about the lives of the people and the issues they are dealing with.
We anticipate that this experience will enhance the cultural awareness of the UNC students and will enable them to return to the US and UNC to share their experiences. The awareness they develop will carry with them into their careers and future dental practices. The current team of students plans to develop this into a continuous project wherein a new team of students will be selected for each subsequent year.
2. Educate Malawian school aged children about oral health and hygiene During the 2nd week, the team will be visiting schools and villages for half of the day to carry out the hands-on curriculum in oral health and AIDS. During this period of time, screenings, fluoride treatment, and distribution of oral hygiene products will be administered. The curriculum for AIDS education is from a grant in 2002 by the Mu Zeta Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. which did interactive curriculum development with school aged children (ages 6-18). We anticipate using various interactive and light-hearted educational approaches, including: pamphlets, skits, puppets for teaching about tooth brushing, and sharing books. Students will also be exposed to preventive measures and we plan to distribute dentifrice, floss, and toothbrushes, and provide Duraphat treatments.
3. Provide fluoride treatment and restorative care to those in need The team will spend three weeks at the Lilongwe Central Hospital engaged in restorative and preventative care to Malawian patients (adults and children). The project will consist of a team of 4 dental students leaving in July 2004 to go to Malawi for 3 weeks under the guidance of the new University of Malawi School of Dentistry in Lilongwe, Malawi.
There is a lead faculty preceptor who has been given a UNC Adjunct Professorship, Dr. Themba Nyirenda. Dr. Nyirenda will be on-site during this project and is Director of the Lilongwe Central Hospital Dental Clinic. This clinic is a large out-patient clinic which was donated to Malawi by the nation of Denmark. It is well-equipped and has:
- Twenty dental units with integrated compressed air and suction systems
- A central sterilization unit · A radiology unit with Panorex machine, an automatic processing unit with a manual back up system
- A phantom head laboratory with nine workstations
- A dental laboratory with a ceramics center · A seminar room to seat twenty people
- An operating theatre
- Six offices
Faculty Advisors:
While this is clearly a student generated and managed project, Dr. Janet Southerland and Dr. Jennifer Webster-Cyriaque serve as our Faculty Advisors at the UNC School of Dentistry. They make many of the arrangements for our academic and clinical experiences and assist in guiding the project. Dr. Southerland and Dr. Webster-Cyriaque are available to answer any questions you may have.
- -Dr. Janet Southerland, Clinical Assistant Professor and UNC Malawi Dental Project Faculty Advisor
- Email: Janet_Southerland@dentistry.unc.edu
- Office Phone: 919 966-0530 | Pager: 919 347-1538
- -Dr. Jennifer Webster-Cyriaque, Associate Professor and UNC Malawi Dental Project Faculty Advisor
- Email: Jennifer_Cyriaque@dentistry.unc.edu
- Office Phone: 919 966-2792 | Pager: 919 216-6509
The success of this endeavor is a product of the uncompensated labor of the dental students and the generosity of the area residents, businesses, dentists, dental manufacturers and dental suppliers. The project receives no direct state funds, and all expenses have been met with contributions and gifts of dental supplies. All donations to the student project have been approved by the University of North Carolina School of Dentistry to be tax deductible.
In July of this year 4 dental students will again leave for nearly a month in Malawi. This self-initiated journey will be funded by the students and will be an educational as well as a service-oriented experience. This endeavor has been a long standing success and the people of Lilongwe, Malawi look forward to the visit each summer. The dental students are committed to community service and to continuing the Malawi Dental Project.
"The UNC Malawi Dental Project engages Dental Students in a meaningful cultural exchange and permits them to contribute to HIV/AIDS education and preventive oral health care. They are learning while delivering important services and will return better prepared to meet unmet health needs in their own communities."
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