In August 2009, Dr. Alessandro Cappelli met the local heads of the mission and accepted their request to create an efficient dental health center. The project foresees the support of SMOM for the training of a local dentist. It is also envisaged to ensure the clinic, within which the dental unit is located, a minimum supply of health equipment that can ensure effective medical as well as dental assistance. The mission of Shashemane is governed by the Consolata Fathers in the dominant figure of Father Silvio Sordella, assisted by two other local missionaries.
General objective
Improve the oral health of the Shashamane community.
Specific Objectives
Improving the oral health of the Shashamane community, upgrading the dental clinic and ensuring continuous and qualified assistance.
Expected results
Carry out an epidemiological investigation of oral pathology. Renovated and efficient dental practice. Specialized staff present in the structure. Professional and economic sustainability.
Actors
Fathers of the Consolata of Turin and in particular Father Silvio Sordella (P.O.Box I8 Shashamene Ethiopia) our local contact person. The GMA (Asmara-Africa-Alem Missions Group) referent Nunzia Gatta.
Need Analysis
The study population has widespread caries and periodontal disease problems that cannot currently be treated due to the lack of adequate equipment and a legally qualified operator. The presence of a local dentist is a problem due to the small number of graduate dentists and their preference for working in the city.
Project Attachments
Shashamane 2010
Clinic staff
Dental clinic
Activities
The project involved making an existing dental reference center functional within the "Shashemane Catholic Clinic Riccardo Azzolini" consisting of 2 fully equipped operating units. The center serves to promote the development of oral health, the reduction of the prevalence of the disease through preventive school education programs conducted by local operators. In recent years, SMOM has sent various missions of dentists and dental assistants who, under the direction of Dr. Alessandro Cappelli, have qualified the nurses of the center to perform professional oral hygiene. However, the association did not find the instrumental and economic resources necessary to qualify the existing structure, as per the agreements made, due to other priority interventions that took place after the start of the project itself. Fortunately, another association took over SMOM's disregarded objectives.
Local context
Shashemane is a city in the center of Misraq Shewa: an area of the Oromia region, about 240 km from the capital Addis Ababa. In 1994, in the reported census, this city had a total population of 52,080 people. The main economic resources of the area are corn, sorghum, peanuts, sesame, cotton, mango, livestock farming (cattle, sheep, goats) and fishing. The region's health indicators show how much this area is in a further precarious state compared to the rest of the country.
The main problem in Ethiopia is, even today, the social and economic underdevelopment of the majority of the population. In the last 5 years the economic and life indicators have improved; there has been a progressive decrease in the infant mortality rate, the maternal mortality rate and the mortality rate before the age of 5, as well as an increase in the number of vaccinated children and access to drinking water. Despite this, Ethiopia is still a country dependent on external aid, involved in international conflicts, and where the cost of living has rapidly increased in recent times, damaging the rural population. In a sense, the country's economic growth seems to have benefited only a small, privileged sector of the population. Other factors that have recently appeared further aggravate the socio-economic situation of the country, such as HIV, tuberculosis and malaria.
Technical Project Data
Continent
AFRICA
village
ETHIOPIA
Location
SHASHAMANE
Project start
2009
Duration
2 YEARS
Project status
CONCLUDED
Project manager
ALESSANDRO CAPPELLI
Project Cost
€ 00,000
Contact
Comments