The Goals of the Rotary Volunteer Dental Aid Project to Taveuni Island, Fiji 2023/2024

First and foremost we wish to provide first-world dentistry to primary school children on Taveuni who are suffering from dental disease who are in pain or very soon will be. Specifically we will actually provide urgent and much needed dental treatment to the children.

Secondly, we wish to reinstate a sustainable preventative programme within the schools and the communities to prevent dental disease from continuing to grow at the rate we had witnessed prior to our last three visits.** In 2016 we had commenced a programme of educating the children, the teachers and parents. This included after lunch times toothbrushing drills and some of the communities had taken our advice and set up rosters amongst the parents to provide daily lunchtime meals. The result was great for the students and the teachers alike. Well-fed children learn better and a controlled diet prevents tooth decay. Over 6 years we saw some schools able to reduce the decay rate by nearly 300%. (See 2018 report.) **The programme was prevented from continuing from 2019 by the pandemic.

Thirdly, we aim to bring back the smile to the people of Taveuni. To rekindle the desire to have a population that is free of dental disease and can, once again, beam that big Fijian smile that they once were renowned for.

The clinical team will comprise 4 dentists who will be accompanied by Facilitator in Dental Prevention. The project includes the treatment of teeth and the promotion of dental health to the children, their teachers, school heads, and their parents. We work in a different community each day at their local school.

Well before we leave NZ, all 4 dentists have to attain certificates of good standing from our own dental council and to apply for temporary registration from the medical council of Fiji. This process will cost between $100 and $200 for each applicant. A further certificate of good standing has to be applied for from the Fijian medical council on our return and before we apply for our yearly reregistration from the NZ dental council, because we have worked overseas.

Insurances are required for travel and working in Fiji.

We need to take all equipment and materials for the 4 dentists. For the first trip of the reinitiated project this will need to include such items as an autoclave which may then remain securely on the island for future use.

The education programme will also need funding. The facilitator will need sufficient resources to provide the schools with the necessary free toothbrushes and toothpaste along with information packages. The schools may be supported with supplies to be distributed to families who cannot afford these items.

Funding is required for return travel from NZ to Nadi and then onto Matei on Taveuni Island. We need to buy extra baggage allowances for the entire trip as Nadi/Matei allowance is only about 15kgs. Those costs are steep.

Generators, compressors and vehicles on the island had in the past been provided gratis by Geoffrey Amos. That is now unavailable to our team so we will need to hire two 4 wheel drive vehicles and a trailer to move our equipment and personnel around from school to school each day. Generators and compressors are required to energise our portable dental units with backups required for the inevitable breakdowns. All the equipment requires fuel to run it. Again, these costs will be steep.