New Beacon of Hope after GCDF Timor Leste Leadership Programme

Timor Leste, formerly East Timor, is located in the Indonesian Islands just north of Western Australia. Hard to get to but beautiful once you’re there Timor Leste has a recent history of civil war. One of the legacies of this conflict has been a dwindling number of dentists and doctors to serve the people of this island.

At present Timor Leste has only 4 dentists and 40 dental therapists and these have few practical clinics to work from.

In November GCDFund funded a three day leadership programme for all 44 dental providers at the inaugural GCDF Timor Leste Oral Health Leadership Programme, held in the capital Dili. The three day conference started on the 10th November and concluded on the 12th November. Delegates reviewed cross infection control, diagnosis and disease management, building capacity for the island and the priorities needing to be implemented to change the dental provision for young and old alike.

The Dili declaration, outlining the priorities, was signed on the 11th November by Dr Fernando Jong, the National Coordinator of One-2-One Timor Leste, Professor Raman Bedi, Chairman of the GCDFund and all the dental providers present. The full declaration is shown below on our Smiles & Hopes Timor Leste page.

As the priorities emerged it was clear that the GCDFund needed to help in several ways. We have decided to set up a Smiles & Hopes programme in Dili which will be overseen by a new beacon centre, run by a full time administrator. They will coordinate the effort to update clinical equipment, in the long run raise awareness through school prevention programmes and update the partners: One-2-One, the Ministry of Health, Rotary Timor Leste and GCDFund.

Keep checking the Smiles & Hopes Timor Leste page for updates on the programme.