Brighter Smiles Africa--translation of a Canadian community-based health-promoting school program to Uganda.
Educ Health (Abingdon)
; 23(2): 241, 2010 Aug.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-20853235
ABSTRACT
PROJECT GOAL To adapt a successful Canadian health-promoting school initiative to a Ugandan context through international partnership. RATIONALE Rural children face many health challenges worldwide; health professionals in training understand these better through community-based learning. Aboriginal leaders in a Canadian First-Nations community identified poor oral health as a child health issue with major long-term societal impact and intervened successfully with university partners through a school-based program called "Brighter Smiles". Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda (MUK) sought to implement this delivery model for both the benefit of communities and the dental students. KEY STEPS/HURDLES ADDRESSED MUK identified rural communities where hospitals could provide dental students with community-based learning and recruited four local schools. A joint Ugandan and Canadian team of both trainees and faculty planned the program, obtained ethics consent and baseline data, initiated the Brighter Smiles intervention model (daily at-school tooth-brushing; in-class education), and recruited a cohort to receive additional bi-annual topical fluoride. Hurdles included challenging international communication and planning due to inconsistent internet connections; discrepancies between Canadian and developing world concepts of research ethics and informed consent; complex dynamics for community engagement and steep learning curve for accurate data collection; an itinerant population at one school; and difficulties coordinating Canadian and Ugandan university schedules. ACCOMPLISHMENTS Four health-promoting schools were established; teachers, children, and families were engaged in the initiative; community-based learning was adopted for the university students; quarterly team education/evaluation/service delivery visits to schools were initiated; oral health improved, and new knowledge and practices were evident; an effective international partnership was formed providing global health education, research and health care delivery.
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Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Serviços de Saúde Escolar
/
Educação em Saúde
/
Desenvolvimento de Programas
/
Serviços de Saúde Bucal
/
Promoção da Saúde
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
Limite:
Child
/
Humans
País como assunto:
Africa
/
America do norte
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2010
Tipo de documento:
Article