Staying Real in Israel
Home of
"The Marty Roberts Show"

How’s this for some progressive public health measures?
As a former dentist, I can tell you that this effort will not be wasted here, in Israel. When I was young in America, I witnessed the explosion in knowledge of proper oral hygiene and the importance of regular preventive dental care, encouraged mainly by the toothpaste manufacturers. We have not yet had this in Israel. The awareness among young and old is not nearly what it should be, hence, big-time dental problems for many.
This program, if effectively administered, should be a giant step in the right direction…healthier, happier smiles in Israel…

Kids, brush up on your dental hygiene


Every schoolchild will be given a toothbrush, toothpaste and instructions on using them properly, when a national dental-care campaign is launched after Passover, the Health Ministry says. The program will later be expanded to junior high schools and include more methods for improving oral hygiene

Reprinted from Haaretz.com Dan Even

In addition, a Health Ministry committee and education officials have recently drafted a plan for kindergarten children and pupils from first to third grades. This program would teach them how to brush their teeth properly.

The Health Ministry has begun hiring dentists and dental hygienists in the run-up to the nationwide launching of the preventive dental care plan.

“The plan will create an egalitarian, uniform basis in preventive dental care among schoolchildren, as well as raise the need for dental treatments and visits to dentists,” wrote Dr. Lena Natapov of the Health Ministry’s division for dental health. She was writing in an essay published this month in DENTAL, the Israeli dentists’ periodical.

The Health Ministry decided on a preventive dental plan following studies showing that children who receive at school a toothbrush, toothpaste and instructions on how to brush their teeth are more likely to do so at home.

For example, the European Journal of Oral Sciences published an article by Finnish scientists in August about fifth- and sixth-grade pupils whose dental hygiene improved after they received dental products and instructions on brushing teeth at school.

So far only around 30 percent of the country’s schoolchildren in a small number of local authorities have received dental service. The Health Ministry promised a year ago to expand the service to all Israel’s schoolchildren. The Finance Ministry promised to triple its budget and allocate NIS 30 million for this purpose. In addition, each child will be charged NIS 30 a year for the service.

A study in 70 kindergartens that operated the dental care plan in 2007 shows that every child suffers from an average of 3.31 damaged baby teeth. Since local authorities with financial woes have not provided the dental service, it is assumed that the actual number of children suffering from dental problems is considerably higher.

Following the failure of previous programs urging children to limit their eating of candy, the authorities have decided to base their efforts on the children’s curriculum.

For example, first-grade pupils who are learning to read will take a course combining reading and instruction on brushing teeth. Third graders learning numerology will be instructed on dental care using this method.

The Health Ministry plans to expand the plan to junior high schools and include additional material promoting dental hygiene such as reducing cell phone use, which could harm the salivary glands.

The ministry already announced in July 2008 that it wants to reduce children’s exposure to cell phones. This plan will be launched in five cities after Passover.

Meanwhile, Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman is advancing another dental care plan for schoolchildren.

“The ministry is preparing a national tender for purchasing toothbrushes and toothpaste to ensure the same quality of products for all the children,” a ministry spokesman said. “Expanding dental care services to all Israel’s children will begin with initial preventive services, distribution of brushes and toothpaste, and periodical examinations. Including dental care in the state-subsidized medical services will ensure dental treatment to children who need it.”

More great work by the government of Israel…
We ain’t got no oil, don’t got no diamonds, no lumber, no uranium, either…just LOTS and LOTS of REALLY smart Jews. Problem is, they keep leaving Israel after completing their higher education here, so the countries of their exile benefit from their highly improved minds…made and developed in Israel.
This new government program is a great start, aimed at both stemming the outward flow of smarts and encouraging the return of those that have already left…

Plan to fight brain drain approved


Government approves national plan aimed at curbing brain drain, bringing expats back

Reprinted from YNet News Roni Sofer

A national plan aimed at curbing the brain drain problem afflicting Israel and attracting expatriates from the academic world back to the country was approved by the government on Sunday.

The initiative will cost about NIS 450 million (roughly $120 million) and be implemented over the course of five years. As part of the plan, and starting as early as next year, Israeli universities will be establishing “academic distinction centers” in various fields in a bid to draw young scientists and researches back to Israel.

A total of 30 such centers are expected to be set up eventually.

The new program will also see a structural revolution that would adapt academic programs to the custom in the United States. As part of this plan, Master’s and Doctoral degrees will be combined into one program.

“We are not synchronized with the American system, and this is going to change,” said Manuel Trachtenberg, who heads the Council of Higher Education’s planning and budget committee.

Also as part of the plan, a foundation with a budget of one billion shekels (roughly $280 million) will be set up in the aims of establishing start-up, research, and development companies in the field of biotechnology, also in a bid to draw expatriates back to Israel.

‘Proper Zionist response’

Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said the plan is a proper Zionist response to the brain drain problem.

“It will bring back hundreds and possibly thousands of professors and doctors to Israel, stimulate our industries, and improve our academia, which suffers from stagnation, while making it younger,” he said.

The minister said the program is a result of a meeting he held with about 200 senior Israeli academicians from Yale and MIT about two months ago. The expatriates complained that they would like to return to Israel but have nowhere to come back to.

The government has announced various plans aimed at bringing back scientists in the past; the latest initiative aims to see at least 300 scientists returning to Israel. The government will be investing a total of about NIS 500 million in the plan, with the universities and overseas donors contributing as much as another billion shekels.

Notably, as opposed to previous plans aimed at returning individual researchers, the new plan seeks to bring back groups of scientists.

“We face terrible competition against the world, and if we wish to win in the global arena, we need to close the gaps,” Trachtenberg said. “We need to bring scientists back from abroad en masse.”