Championing Rural Oral Health: Bulela Vava’s unwavering commitment to oral healthcare in rural communities
For many rural residents, dental care is a distant luxury, with clinics often far away, over rough roads with limited transport. But health professionals like Dr Bulela Vava, who have experienced the challenges of these rural areas firsthand, have shaped their careers towards addressing this gap.
Dr Bulela Vava is a rural oral health champion whose journey to dentistry began in 2009 at Walter Sisulu University, where he initially pursued a degree in biological science after not securing admission in medicine.
While exploring health-related fields, he stumbled upon dentistry. “I had never seen a dentist before,” he recalled, but with guidance from a friend, he understood the potential stability and security it offered, especially given his disadvantaged background. Though uncertain at first, he seized the opportunity and ventured into dentistry, valuing its promise of shorter working hours and a decent salary.
Dentistry was initially a circumstance-driven choice for him. In his first two years, the program was aligned with a medical curriculum, and only in the third year did he truly get a taste of dentistry. It was in this year, that he was forced to reckon with his decision.
He received a bursary from the Eastern Cape Department, which made him fully commit to his dental studies. “I couldn’t go back and tell my parents I couldn’t study dentistry anymore,” he shared, acknowledging the pressure he felt. His involvement in a student rural health club exposed him to the challenges faced by rural communities and reinforced his purpose to serve as a dentist where care was most needed.
Dr Vava spent seven years serving as a dentist in the rural Eastern Cape, primarily at St Barnabas Hospital in Libode and later in Mthatha. His deep involvement in the community included involving himself in supporting educational outcomes and promoting oral health education in local schools. In his line of work he fondly recalls one heartwarming moment when a patient brought vegetables from their garden as a token of gratitude after receiving much-needed care. “That moment reminded me of the far reaching impact of the contribution I was making to society,” he reflected, illustrating how fulfilling his work in rural areas was.
Working alone in the rural sub-district of Nyandeni, the challenges were immense, often working with large populations with limited resources. On some days, Vava had to attend to up to 70 patients, a burden that started impacting his physical health often seeking the aid of colleagues for his occupation related ailments. Roads were difficult to navigate, and there was never enough time or resources to meet the overwhelming demand. “It was sad to see myself deteriorating physically,” Vava said. He actively petitioned his principals for more investment in human resources and advocated for greater oral health awareness to address misconceptions that rural communities had about oral diseases.
Dr Vava’s work in rural health deeply shaped his advocacy within the Rural Health Advocacy Movement. He highlighted the neglect of oral health, especially in underserved rural areas, and emphasised its critical role in overall health & well-being. In 2018, he founded the Public Oral Health Forum to unite oral health professionals behind a banner to address the stark inequalities in access to care.
As part of the Tekano Health Equity Fellowship, Vava sought to break down hierarchical barriers in oral health, empowering all professionals to commit to their role and responsibility to improve oral healthcare. The Public Oral Health Forum, now a network of nearly 400 members, strives to unite the oral health professions in the preservation and promotion of oral and general health, while advocating for oral health worker rights and society’s right to equitable oral health. Understanding that dismantling antiprogressive heirachies in oral health is no easy feat, Dr Vava’s goal is to empower all professionals, particularly those traditionally marginalised to contribute meaningfully to the cause of reimagining public oral health. Through education and advocacy, the Forum strives to foster a socially conscious, community-driven workforce committed to addressing complex oral health challenges and driving meaningful change.
For him, National Oral Health Month is an opportunity to highlight the unmet needs of marginalised communities. He emphasises the importance of integrating oral health into broader health discussions, noting that “the mouth should not be seen as a separate part of the body.” The month-long campaign provides a platform to address the rising burden of oral diseases, especially among vulnerable populations like children and persons with disabilities.
He believes that access to oral health care for persons living with disabilities is one of the most critical issues, as they often struggle to receive dignified and adequate care. He also advocates for prioritising child oral health, which remains a significant gap in public health services.
In his current role as President of the Public Oral Health Forum, Dr Vava continues to drive the support of coalface rural oral healthcare professionals. The organisation provides continuous education content to help improve oral health services in all nine provinces and hosts engagements to reflect and solve the most pressing oral healthcare issues.
His unwavering commitment to rural oral health advocacy shines through, as he continues to work tirelessly toward a more equitable healthcare system for all South Africans.