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Abstract #151432

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Ajey Bhardwaj, AVNI Health Foundation, 311 Gundavli School, Sir M V Road, Andheri East, Mumbai, 400 069, India, 09820505206, avnihealth@yahoo.com, Jeffrey Hill, Department of Comprehensive Dentistry, University of Alabama School of Medicine, 1919 7th Avenue South, SD 524 C, 20 th street, Birmingham, AL 35294 0007, and S. R. Prabhu, School of Dentistry, Oral Disease Unit, University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidad and Tobago.

Oral health is an integral component of comprehensive HIV primary care and plays an important role in the evaluation and management of patients with HIV infection. The early recognition and treatment of the oral lesions of HIV/AIDS is essential to reduce HIV related morbidity. This was seen as a gap in the various trainings being organized for health care providers in India. Since the last two years, capacity building programs with more than 1500 dentists have taken place across five States in India. Currently, workshops are being planned in an additional 4 States as well. The paper shares the various phases of the program, including the needs assessment with dentists, designing the training curricula, evaluation of the program, and more importantly, the integration within existing courses for dentists. Materials inluding a resource manual tailored to the Indian setting have been developed. Infection control in the dental setting emerged as one of the key areas along with stigma and discrimination issues. The demand from the dentists was overwhelming, with issues like myths and misconceptions, links to existing services emerging as important areas. Strong partnerships with the Government and the Indian Dental Association have also supported the process.

Learning Objectives: At the end of the session, participants will be able to

1.Understand the importance of building capacities of oral health care providers in the field of HIV & AIDS
• Share experiences and lessons learnt while implementing such a program in India
• Understand the partnerships and networks required for implementing the program on a large scale across 8 States in India

Keywords: HIV/AIDS, Oral Health

Related Web page: www.avnihealth.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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