German

Aktionsgemeinschaft Arzt-und Zahnarzthilfe Brasilien (AZB)

(Medical and dental assistance action group Brazil)

The Aktionsgemeinschaft Arzt- und Zahnarzthilfe Brasilien e.V. is a charitable association that was founded in Baden Baden in 1991 by a group of private German dentists. We have made it our goal to provide free humanitarian and dental care to destitute Brazilians.

The association constructed a building in a slum area of the city of Cuiabá (in Brazil’s Midwest), for example, in which about 175,000 dental procedures were performed over a 7-year period. As of January 2001, our site of operations has been in Salvador, Bahia (northeastern Brazil). All year round we send German dental teams to health stations in the slums there, where they treat people who would otherwise have no chance of receiving dental care.

Each team, usually consisting of a dentist with an assistant, spends at least 3 weeks on site. We also have a 4-wheel drive dentomobile at our disposal, which we use to visit remote reservations in the Salvador/Bahia region once or twice a year.

Larger teams of up to ten experienced members carry out such missions. The costs involved, such as flights, provisions, etc., are borne by the dental teams themselves, but are completely tax-deductible.

The association finances itself through donations and our old gold collection campaign.