Investigators

  • Ajesh George
  • Ariana Kong
  • Juhani Brodkin
  • Ulla Harjunmaa
  • Heli Kuusipalo
  • Ruth King
  • Hannah Dahlen
  • Lwidiko Mgalilwa

 

  • Baraka Nzobo
  • Bryceson Mbilinyi
  • Inick Mgobasa
  • Agnes Lwiva
  • Luwoneko Mbilinyi
  • Rhoda Njogolo
  • Ray Masumo

Collaborators

MoH Tanz: Ministry of Health (Tanzania)
ILH: Ilembula Lutheran Hospital
IIHAS: Ilembula Institute of Health and Allied Sciences

 

RBF: Rotary Bank of Finland
THL: Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare
ACM: Australian College of Midwives

Project Overview

Poor oral health during pregnancy is a key public health issue across both developed and developing countries. In Tanzania, a low income country situated in East Africa, previous studies have found that poor oral health is common among pregnant women. Some of the barriers to accessing dental services during pregnancy include low availability and affordability of dental services, particularly given the considerable cost of restorative dental care. One potential strategy that could improve the access to dental services and reduce the need for restorative care among Tanzanian pregnant women could be to implement a model of care where midwives promote oral health and nutrition, and assist with referrals to dental services. In Australia, the Midwifery Initiated Oral Health (MIOH) program, has been shown to improve the oral health knowledge and confidence of midwives in delivering oral health promotion, and has also improved clinical outcomes. This project explored adapting the MIOH program to a setting in Tanzania.

Aims & Objectives

The aim of this oral health improvement program was to adapt and pilot test a MIOH training program for health science students. More specifically, the objectives were:

  1. Pilot test the training program to assess the improvement in oral health knowledge and confidence of participants.
  2. Explore the perceptions of the training materials and its acceptability among participants.

Pilot results

A presentation of the pilot training and survey results can be downloaded at this link.

Alternatively, please copy and paste this link to your address bar: https://spaces.hightail.com/space/udvvSpGJeJ

Report

The full report from the pilot results can be found on OSF.

Alternatively, please copy and paste the following link into your address bar: https://osf.io/a29mg/wiki/home/

Research Output

To see the various outputs from the MIOH-Tanzania program, please navigate to the pages below:

Publications Presentations Awards Training resources Oral health promotion resources

Alignment with ACIOH’s themes

 

Workforce reoriented:

DIPLOMA STUDENTS

This project aimed to improve the knowledge and confidence of diploma students to promote oral health.

 

People-centred strategies:

PREGNANT WOMEN

This project aimed to indirectly improve the oral health knowledge, behaviours and oral health outcomes of pregnant women in Tanzania.