Posted on :Wednesday , 18th April 2018
The Kenya Dental Association has joined forces with the Wrigley Foundation to dispatch a two-year programme that will see more than 20,000 grade school students gain access to free dental services in their respective localities.
The program is named "Meno Yetu,Afya Yetu" and is worth a mammoth Sh13.8 million, the programme will treat the oral issues of more than 100,000 school students between the ages of six to eight years in the Nairobi territory before it extends its scope further to different districts.
Dr Cosmus Gitobu of the Ministry of Health said that numerous local people from Nakuru, Kajiado, Machakos, Meru, and Murang'a use borehole water for drinking purposes. This water has a high level of fluoride, which is a major cause of tooth rot. "Research shows that low-levels of basic oral health education and practice is leading to disease burden, he was quoted saying.
There is need to offer oral health education,” he said. Nairobi Senator, Johnson Sakaja said something saying that this move will be a major advance towards promoting dental healthcare and providing treatment to scores of more Kenyan citizens.
The 2015 Kenya National Health Oral Health Survey also showed that just about 90 percents of Kenyans experience dental issues, with 44 percent of that being children. This new initiative will work towards changing this statistic for the better.