Dental Health International Nederland
This medical aid initiative started as "Action for Lucy". In September 2000 we visited St-Johns Hospital in Mzuzu, North-Malawi during an inspection tour.
Among the patients we saw was Lucy Sikwese, a lovely young woman of approximately 17 years of age. Lucy lives in a small village, Chipoka, in northern Malawi. Her family owns about 100 sq.m. of land and are therefore not the poorest people of the village. But for a bus trip to Mzuzu, which costs some 50$, we had to to sponsor her. Travel is expensive in the third world.
Medical support is minimal, people sometimes have to walk for days, and even then the treatment they can get is very basic.
Lucy had a so called Ameloblastoom. This is a, although usually not maligne, cyste-like tumor which grows uncontrolled, causing deformation of the jaw which it eventually destroys.

The patient simply dies of hunger.

In the Western world, treatment is simple. The patient has access to medical help and will seek treatment before the cyste has grown much. In Afrika matters are different. There are no virtually no dental surgeons.

Our goal is to send a team of dental surgeons to Malawi twice a year and support them to perform the necesssary operations at St. John's Hospital. Of course they will then also screen patients during their next visit.
Patients vary from babies with schisis which inhibits them to eat to a police officer whose jaw had been destroyed by a bullet. After all he was not operated on, because the chief of his tribe did not allow him to......

During the forthcoming May trip, a 22 year young woman will be operated. Therefore money is needed. Surgeons with an admirable social attitude can be found, but their good work should become independent of their personal financial sacrifices. So we are looking for financial support to cover their travel cost and materials used.
As we see the need for medical support in the third world, the initiative of DHIN is well appreciated. Although DHIN can not supply the materials needed for this initiative, we do make sure that we donate surplus dental equipment to DHIN. And assist other dentists to do the same. So far this resulted in donations of rontgen equipment, hand instruments etc. And there is a lot more to come!
Please support "Action for Lucy" and visit our site: http://www.kaakchirurgen-voor-malawi.nl/index.html