9 March 2023
Recognising that … “Prevention is better than cure” … we have long believed that when it comes to oral health, it is important to intervene as early as possible – at birth!
Given the geographic hurdles faced by Vanuatu, along with a lack of qualified oral health professionals, the training of existing registered nurses, particularly those involved with maternal care, seemed to be the best “point of entry”.
Enter … the “Gudfala Smile Nurse Training Program”. Based on the Northern Territory’s “Healthy Smiles” training program, Gudfala Smile has been modified with kind permission, and after a mammoth amount of work, by MSM dental consultant, Dr Barry Stewart.
Translated into Bislama, the course will be trialled over the next six months, with a view to it then being rolled out more wildly in the future.
