Ian and Andie Wilson. Children - Jake, Imani, Neema & Maisha
Ian and Andie are the directors and founders of the Tanzanian based development agency Bridge2Aid, situated in Mwanza.
Bridge2Aid was established in January 2002, with two principal remits: working alongside the Tanzanian government to increase dental care provision in the region, through basic training for rural clinical officers and providing postgraduate education for dentists. They also work in social care and community development with a section of society known as the Maskini. These are leprosy victims, disabled people, and others with disfiguring conditions who are rejected by mainstream Tanzanian society.
For further information on Bridge2Aid visit www.Bridge2Aid.org
Updates on The Wilson Family
Latest news about the Wilson family - April 2010
In Mwanza city centre, Hope Dental Centre is a well equipped dental surgery offering a full range of dental services. It’s a Christian business operated with integrity, providing good quality dental services for fee paying clients in Mwanza and a number of gold mines in the region. The thing that makes HDC different is that all of the profits of the surgery are reinvested in the charitable work of Bridge2Aid. HDC is both an income generator and a place to make kingdom contacts in the community.
The area of great dental need in Tanzania, however, is not in the city. For rural people in Tanzania, just as it is in 2/3 of the world, there are no dentists. Bridge2Aid’s response to this is strategic training.
The Dental Volunteer Programme (DVP) has been running since 2004. It utilises the skills of predominantly UK dentists and dental nurses to train clinical officers in Oral Urgent Treatment (OUT). Clinical officers work in rural dispensaries serving communities of around 15,000 and are the first port of call for basic health care for many Tanzanians. Over a two week period they are trained to safely extract teeth and provide appropriate oral health education. Those who pass the course are resourced with the basic equipment they need and are followed up to ensure they are carrying out treatment appropriately. The results speak for themselves with many clinical officers removing around 300 carious teeth each year with very few failures. Problems that are beyond their level of expertise are referred to district hospitals. Over the last 5 years, this approach has given over a million people access to basic dental care not otherwise available.
