"I was sure she was going to hate me after I was done."
Dr. Sam Merabi is speaking about his dental patient, Lisa (not her real name), an HIV positive thirteen year old girl at the Home of Hope Orphanage in Lilongwe, Malawi. Dr. Merabi had good reason to think that Lisa would be angry after an arduous and painful procedure to extract several decayed teeth.
Lisa was one of four hundred children at the orphanage screened by Dr. Merabi and his team of three dental residents, a dental assistant, and a faculty member from the Harvard School of Dental Medicine this past October.
Dr. Merabi, DDS, is President of Child Dental Relief, Inc., and Clinical Instructor at Harvard. The trip was sponsored by Raising Malawi, and was a follow-up to a previous trip made in August by the team.
On the follow-up trip, all 400 children received fluoride treatments and oral hygiene education (demonstrations in tooth brushing, etc.). In addition, 258 children received full screenings, which resulted in 89 receiving restorations, and 26 having extractions.
In the developed world, dental care is often sought for cosmetic reasons, but in Malawi it can be life saving. Because of Lisa's HIV positive status, her decayed teeth left her vulnerable to many opportunistic infections.
Even for those with healthy immune systems, oral hygiene is important for all around health and quality of life. According to the orphanage, dental pain is the number one reason kids miss school. Yet, despite its importance, dental care has been a low priority in many aid programs.
Dr. Merabi observed that Raising Malawi is unique in its understanding that oral health is an essential cornerstone in overall health. He added that "many international dental aid programs are poorly designed because dental providers will work in Africa as a 'feel good' trip with no follow up."
For most of the children at the orphanage this was the first dental care and oral heath education they’d ever received. In the past, the only oral health care offered to those in the vicinity of the orphanage was the hospital in the Mchinji District, many kilometers away.
Dr. Merabi’s second trip to the orphanage was just the beginning of his and Raising Malawi's long range plans to boost the dental infrastructure in Malawi.
To further this goal, Harvard donated $70,000 worth of dental equipment to the local hospital in the Mchinji District. It's a critical donation as the hospital has only the ability to perform extractions because supply shortages prevent them from offering anything other than tooth extractions. There are also plans to offer more advanced training to the dental staff at the hospital.
Dr. Merabi said he's "very impressed with how adept Raising Malawi is at absorbing different ideas," adding that the organization’s commitment to prophylactic oral prevention "is a very smart move and will have major ramifications."
Hopefully, Malawi will be an example of how other NGOs can offer dental care throughout the rest of the developing world.
Once Dr. Merabi finished working on Lisa she surprised him with a warm hug. She understood that while it was a scary experience, it was for her own good. To top it off, Lisa had absolutely no pain the next day.
10 comments:
The charity 'Raising Malawi' (PR firm) founded by Madonna AND TWO OTHERS over three years ago held fund raisers for over two years before finally getting registered as a non-profit. In other words, Madonna and the others were free to squander the lion's share of that funding any way they saw fit for those first two years. She also pleaded with her fans worldwide for donations along the way. In the meantime, she toured the world to promote her latest CD and raked in another $280,000,000 gross in just over 12 months. To date, the basic financial info for 'Rasing Malawi' still hasn't been posted on the website or anywhere else. The 'progress' page only tells of the collective works by over 20 seperate charities. Each of which have their own sources of funding and may have recieved some sort of promotion or support from 'Raising Malawi' in order to be considered 'partners'. But no indication is made how much of their funding came from 'Raising Malawi' or how much of their progress if any could be directly attributed to 'Raising Malawi'. The fans/donors have no clue how many millions of dollars were raised in that first two years, no clue how much Madonna herself chipped in, and no clue how the money was spent before they finally registered as a non-profit. No clue what tiny little fraction of funding or works listed on that 'progress' page could be directly attributed to 'Raising Malawi'. Nothing to go on but the vague word of Madonna. The vague and very misleading word of Madonna. For example: She states in her latest promotional video that she will match any contributions made to her charity (PR firm) "dollar for dollar". However there is a disclaimer posted on the website for 'Raising Malawi' that Madonna's total contribution will not exceed $100,000. Thats not per donation. Thats a maximum of $100,000 TOTAL. Less than a single days pay for Madonna. Also much less then she will surely rake in by promoting her own CDs, DVDs, and 'for profit' merchandise through this massive worldwide publicity stunt. So I called the office of 'Raising Malawi' in an attempt to verify some sort of efficient financial operation (310) 867-2881 or (888) 72-DONOR). These details are ALWAYS made available by legitimate charities to their potential donors. But not in this case. I got nothing but recorded messages and hangups. So I did some research on my own. 'Rasing Malawi' still hasn't been given any kind of rating by ANY independent charity watchdog like Charitywatch.org. The vast overwhelming majority of 'celebrity' foundations never are. In general, they are inneficient and riddled with corruption. Like the promotion of CDs, world tours, commercial websites, entire lines of jewelry (not just the single piece from which proceeds are donated), and high end fashion retail flagship stores. Celebrity foundations are also notorious for squandering much of their funding on travel and super high end accomodations for their celebrity figure heads. Its legal even for a nonprofit but not noble or efficient by any stretch of the imagination. In general, 'celebrity' foundations are a twisted inefficient mutant of charity, self-promotion, and PR crap. They actually compete for funding with more efficient legitimate charities who do more work with less money. Its a sham. So if its not rated, then don't support it. Instead, support a top rated charity like any of those given high ratings at Charitywatch.org.
Researching information about Madonna and Raising Malawi for a philanthropic update, I see that this anonymous man leaves false information about the charity all over the Internet.
He left the same info on my website, and it's full of inaccuracies and misinformation. The more I research about Madonna's work in Malawi, I see that she's part of an intensive network that includes not only the UN and extensive partnership from the government of Malawi, but Boston University and Duke University as well.
These organizations regularly quote Raising Malawi in their recent videos on progress in the country. The NYTimes wrote about Raising Malawi in Dec. 2009.
The world of philanthropy is filled with competitive interests, especially in a down economy. It's sad to see an individual use his time leaving negative, inaccurate comments about Raising Malawi wherever possible on the Internet.
He should stop operating behind anonymity, establish his identity and prove his accusations, which are easily discredited with a bit of Internet research as I have done.
The country of Malawi appears to be a promising test case in what can be achieved when thinking, committed people establish clear guidelines under which to evaluate success. Madonna is part of that team. Anne
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Chewing gun is never an alternative to brushing your tooth. It just helps neutralizing the acid and sweets in your mouth. It helps you generate more saliva that can pretty much clean the mouth but mot as much as brushing your teeth can do.
I commend the dentists behind the "Raising Malawi" Program. I salute the way they promote and care for the dental health of the people. I can remember when it was our chance here to help. I and a dentist in Lakeland, Fl decided to launch a dental health lecture in a school where we can teach students on the proper way of brushing. Soon after, many dentist (Lakeland-based), joined our advocacy and even filmed a video fro free. Keep up the humanitarian will!
It's really important to visit your dentist at least every 6 months to check on your oral and dental health.
Many parents wonder about children dental care and their kids. They may wonder when to start brushing their teeth and when to begin taking them to the dentist for checkups. There are some great ways to know when kids are ready for teeth brushing and for visiting a professional dental office. Learning about the stages and ages of dental practices, could help to keep a child's mouth clean and healthy.
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