Storian Blo Helti Tut

$530 donated

Given by 11 generous donors in 6 weeks

Help support effective improvement of Vanuatu's oral health environment by bringing together committed agencies in a strategic 3day assembly

Bay of Plenty

A healthy oral status is a basic human right, yet simple oral health care, combined with information & preventative activities, rarely becomes a reality for the majority of people in Pacific nations.

In Vanuatu there is only 1 dentist to 35,000 people

We are seeking sponsors to partner with us to enable us to facilitate the first ever Storian Blo Helti Tut (Oral Health Assembly) in Vanuatu; drawing together government, local and international service providers into three days of inspiring and collaborative strategic planning.

We are expecting between 30 – 40 delegates at the conference. Most attendees work for charitable trusts and are already contributing in a significant way to the improvement of oral health environment in Vanuatu. They rely on the donations for funding and support of volunteers for service provision. Other attendees are local indigenous health providers who are on the ground working in their homes, schools and communities as volunteers or receiving minimum wages for their every day commitment to their nations smiles.

With your help it is hoped the Storian (assembly) will be a registration-free event, so that it accessible to as many people and organizations as possible. Having a strong cross-section of oral health contributors will allow shared awareness and collaboration at all levels of delivery which will result in the best possible outcomes for Vanuatu.

Supporting/attending agencies to date include:

Butterfly Trust

Colgate Pacific

Fruit of the Pacific

Marine Reach

Medical Sailing Ministries

Medical Santo

Ministry Of Health

Novo Dental

PCV Health, Dental Care Services

Red Cross Oral Health Educator

Rotary Australia World Community Service

Vanuatu Oral Health Awareness Team

Please head to our website to find out more information about the Storian and the work of Fruit of the Pacific....

http://www.fruitofthepacific.org/storian.html

Fruit of the Pacific's involvement (page creator)

My name is Kylie DellaBarca Steel and for the last five years I have mentored a group of Ni Vanuatu who come to NZ each year to work in the Kiwifruit industry.

During their time here they have been trained to become oral health educators (Vanuatu Oral Health Awareness Team) and when they go home they serve their communities by partnering with international and local NGO's traveling around the islands of Vanuatu teaching school children how to clean their teeth.

In 2014 they reached 7,500 children. 2015 they aim to reach over 10,000. It is a fantastic model of indigenous people empowered to meet a need in their own communities.

In designing the delivery of the VOHA programmes, we have become aware of and partnered with so many other orgnaisations working towards improving oral health in Vanuatu. For VOHA it seemed like a productive next step to bring everyone together to share experiences, identify collective strengths and resources and to, together, develop long term strategies that empower the local communities they all work in.

About us

Fruit of the Pacific educates and mentors short term Pacific migrants

Latest update

Thanks 5 March 2015

Thank you all for your contributions towards Storian Blo Helti Tut. It was great to see so many contribute to a cause outside NZ - which is so important and valuable to the people of Vanuatu. We depart on Sunday, with the conference starting next Thursday and now have almost 60 delegates attending. The great news is about 80% of these are indigenous Ni Vanuatu - many coming from rural provinces to contribute their thoughts, experience and vision for oral health care in their country. The Ministry of Health has taken a real sense of ownership of the Storian and are now covering the costs ofthe venue hire, lunches and the travel costs for over 20 of their staff to attend. So this givealittle campaign is successfully able to cover the sundry costs of the resources and stationary which make the whole Storian run smoothly. I look forward to sending you some pictures and a report when we return in about 10 days time. Tank yu tu mas!

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