Time to show solidarity with Haiti
By Dr Adolfo Rodríguez, FOLA (Guest commentary)
The earthquake that struck Haiti in January will be remembered for a long time. Its devastating magnitude has spread desolation amongst the population and resulted in the gravest crisis in Haiti’s history, leaving behind a completely destroyed country with little likelihood of recovery without assistance. As the first Latin American nation, Haiti gained independence from France in 1804. Even before disaster struck on 12 January 2010, it had suffered deeply from poverty and political unrest. It is the duty of developed nations to help rebuild this nation so that our Haitian brothers can look forward to a new and improved country.
Many of our colleagues in Haiti have lost everything: family, work, resources and, even worse, hope. The dental profession cannot be oblivious to this reality. The Latin American Dental Federation (FOLA) has launched an international campaign to assist dental colleagues in Haiti by providing resources to rebuild their lives and their professional practices. FOLA, FDI, Dental Tribune and dentists from all over Latin America are making great efforts to collect instruments, materials and equipment to restore oral-health services in Haiti. We hope you also join us in this effort.
We are also planning a dental congress in the Dominican Republic to collect funds for the reconstruction of Haiti.
Dr Samuel Prophet, the President of the Association Dentaire Haitienne, wrote in an e-mail from Port-au-Prince to Dental Tribune Latin America: “Knowing that FOLA, FDI and Dental Tribune will help dentists in Haiti is great news because it gives us hope!”
This is a call to cooperate with us to help those who have been left without work or resources. Now is the time to show solidarity with our Haitian colleagues.
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