Dentaid Action - Dentaid has been at the forefront of raising awareness about Infant Oral Mutilation over the past ten years. We have also been involved in supporting a number of clinics and projects who have been combating the practise and treating the consequences of it on the ground amongst rural communities, particularly in Uganda. The need for the development and resource of these local programmes, as part of national and international strategies, are crucial to end this practice.                      

• Dentaid seeks to become a central source of IOM information.
• To promote the issue of IOM to NGOs working in IOM affected areas.
• To change the cultural view of IOM in the developing countries in which it is practised.
• To target health development agencies to create greater awareness of the need to take action on IOM.
• To make Dentaid an agent for changing the prevalence of IOM and eventually eradicate it all together.
• To educate care workers, local healers and parents in areas affected by IOM.

Future Plans - Dentaid has adopted combating Infant Oral Mutilation (I.O.M) as one of it's major priorities over the next few years. In the next year, Dentaid intends to embark upon a process, likely to be based upon the following format:-  

• First Stage - Research and literature review - Efforts will be made to pull together and review all the disparate research and information from all available sources about IOM. These will be written up into a comprehensive review paper, designed to aid further stages of the project.  
• Second stage - Consultation - Dentaid will attempt to draw together a group of experts in community and international development, sociology, anthropology and representatives from relevant health disciplines, to review the available data and together devise an initial IOM strategy.
• Third stage – Implementation – Dependent on the recommendations of the 2nd stage consultation, this may involve necessary further research, advocacy and design of community-based approaches aimed at eliminating the practise. Then identification and resourcing of suitable partners on the ground to work with to physically implement preventive strategies.

Area of activity/(Partner Organisations) – Area of activity to be determined. The practice is mainly found at present in South Central Africa including Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia, Sudan and others). However, the first stage (research and literature review) will take place in the UK. The second stage will take place mainly through initial email communication, followed by a conference of experts outlined above at a central location. Third stage and partners will be based within IOM affected countries.   
 
Anticipated Outcome

• The establishment and implementation of local, national and international strategies and activities, to start combating the practice of infant oral mutilation.

 Click here to download the Dentaid IOM action leaflet

More information about IOM