Oral care for everyone
Our dream is to realize accessible oral care for the poorest people of West Africa
Make an impact
The Improve Foundation was founded to make oral care accessible to everyone. Did you know that almost half of the world’s population – 3.58 billion people – have mouth problems? In many countries there is too little manpower, money and resources for basic oral care. The Improve Foundation works together with other organizations to improve this through education, training and entrepreneurship.
A healthy mouth is essential
According to the WHO, oral health is a very important indicator of overall health, well-being and quality of life. Yet, for example, caries (cavities) is one of the most common chronic diseases worldwide. Left untreated, this leads to pain, discomfort, disfigurement and sometimes even death. In addition, it has all kinds of other adverse effects, school dropout in children, for example, or loss of work and income in adults.
65%
of the population in low-wage countries have no access to any form of oral care
20%
of the world population needs acute oral care at some point, for example after an accident
50%
more school absenteeism for children in slums is due to a lack of good oral and hand hygiene
Four conditions make up the majority of oral problems
- Caries, or cavities
- Gum diseases
- Mouth traumas
- Oral cancer
Almost all of them are preventable or treatable at an early stage
Recent news
A better diagnosis with X-rays?
– This column is only available in Dutch – Vorige maand gaf ik online…
Why development aid does make sense
– This column is only available in Dutch – Hulp bieden aan de allerarmsten…
