THE ORIGINAL STORY

In 2020, Dr Sanjay Matthew and his team at MulakTimor, a local non-governmental organization (NGO), were attempting to get permission to develop a training template for government employees to start placing silver diammine fluoride (SDF). The Oral Health Bureau (Ministry of Health, Timor Leste) agreed on the condition that the NGO would write a set of standard treatment guidelines for the delivery of oral health care in the Timor Leste primary health care system. Acknowledging the quid pro quo, Dr Matthew and his mentor, Dr Turton, realized that producing that content in an efficient way was necessary, and called in help from across the globe to delegate the tasks. A team was assembled. These individuals became the founding members of the Oral Health Action Network (OHAN). What they learned from the process was that producing a standardized document can be important for establishing the legitimacy of a project or an approach, particularly where that approach is acting off a robust evidence base. They also learned that bringing in a team of writers to support local initiatives was a major amplifying action that enabled the local team to focus on the core business of service delivery. Building on those learnings, OHAN was formed to better organise the ways in which global players might be able to use their soft skills to amplify the work of those working in low resource settings.