The Ministry of Health (MOH), Ministry of Education (MOE), and oral care experts Crest and Oral-B met today to launch year three of their National Oral Care Preventive Programme in schools. Over 130 ministry officials participated in a national seminar to kick-start the campaign for in school training and oral care awareness organized by industry specialists, Crest and Oral-B.
With the year’s goals set to reach over 250,000 first graders of both genders in all 42 education regions in Saudi, Crest and Oral-B shared their plans and training materials with regional programme administrators through interactive workshop sessions.
‘’Crest and Oral-B are very proud to have pioneered, with the MOH and MOE, a programme of such importance,’’ said Turki Binmoammar, Public Affairs & Community Relations Manager, Modern Products Company. ‘’As we move into year three of this long term campaign, we are committed to providing even greater support to 10,000 teachers we plan to train, with materials that will teach and both guide children to learn and adopt brushing habits.’’
Teachers will attend lectures organized by Crest & Oral B on how to coach and direct children in practicing proper and regular tooth brushing habits. The emphasis of the campaign is to educate children and institutionalize the concept of self-care and regular oral hygiene practice.
‘’The government acknowledged over three years ago the prevalence of dental caries in children,’ said Dr. Mohammad Alrafie, Director of Dentistry, Ministry of Health. ‘’By aligning ourselves with our partners, MOE, Crest and Oral-B we successfully launched our caries prevention programme in schools and extended it throughout the Kingdom.’’
Dr. Adel Al- Rusayes, programme supervisor from Male School Health Education Directorate, Ministry of Education added: ‘’ The programme has seen immense success as it is centred upon in-school education of oral hygiene. We strongly believe that children are receptive to learn new habits at school and listen to their teachers’ advice.’’
Dr, Abdullah Alorf, from Female School Health Education Directorate, Ministry of Education, further contributes the success of the programme to Crest and Oral-B’s extensive support and experience in school programmes globally. ‘’This partnership has brought forth a very inspiring initiative whose success thus far is astounding. We are further excited about year three of the programme which promises to be even bigger with additional reach and greater results.’’
Details of the KSA National Oral Care Preventive Program and the role of Crest and Oral-B
Building on Crest and Oral-B expertise in school programmes and oral care awareness globally, many of the learnings were applied to the Saudi programme with consideration of the local market and culture. Through the brand’s expertise in message communication, all of the materials were developed by design experts and with the brand team’s involvement, to support the implementation phases and planning process with the central team of MOH & MOE. The Oral Care School Programme has become over the last 2 years a best in class model in Saudi with total reach to date of 300,000 students. The programme this year will kick off activities immediately after Ramadan with teacher training followed by in-school implementation.
About MPC
Modern Products Company & its sister Modern Industries Company are leading Saudi companies in the consumer products sector. With huge investments in their plants in Jeddah & Dammam to manufacture Tide, Pampers, Ariel, Head & Shoulders, Pantene, Always. Through their social program BUNYAN, both companies contributions last year exceeded SR 11 Millions in the areas of Health, Education, and volunteering activities.
