Strengthening systems for working on issues regarding oral health and HIV & AIDS in a resource constrained setting - India

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.