Last year, The Lancet Series aimed to get global oral health on global health agendas. On 25 June 2020, The Lancet announced that 27 experts across research, policy, advocacy & clinical dentistry from 16 countries will continue this work via a Lancet Commission on Oral Health. Dr Divyesh Mundra gives more details on the Lancet Health Commission and its plans.
In July 2019, The Lancet published a path-breaking two-part Oral Health Series that highlighted the global public health burden of oral diseases affecting 34% of the population across the globe and the need for a radical reform of dental care systems, whose treat-over-prevent model has failed to combat the global challenge of combating oral diseases.
In recognition of the global public health importance, woeful neglect of oral diseases and commitment to include global oral health within medicine and global health agenda, The Lancet in early 2020 established a Commission on Oral Health.
This is the latest announcement by The Lancet on Twitter on 25th June 2020
Today, we announce that 27 experts across research, policy, advocacy & clinical dentistry from 16 countries will continue this work via a Lancet Commission on Oral Health https://t.co/kIRCUsE1aupic.twitter.com/mAjagyWAQ4
A Lancet Commission is a scientific review, inquiry and response to an urgent and often neglected or understudied health predicament.
Importance of the Lancet Commission
Lancet Commissions are international, science-led, multi-disciplinary collaborations that aim to achieve transformational change with a particular focus on policy or political action.
Composition of Lancet Commission on Oral Health (LCOH):
27 experts across clinical dentistry, academic research, policymaking, health and human rights advocacy from 16 countries across the world have been appointed as Commissioners on the first-ever LCOH. LCOH will be co-chaired by Colombian public health dentist Dr Carol Guarnizo-Herreno and UK’s Prof. of public health dentistry Dr Richard Watt, who also is the Director of WHO’s Collaborating Centre on Oral Health Inequalities.
Sr.No.
Nationality
Name
Education
Current Organisation
1
India
Dr Manu Mathur
PhD (Epidemiology)
Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI)
2
India
Mirai Chatterjee
MPH (John Hopkins)
SEWA RURAL, Gujarat
3
Thailand
Dr Supreda A
DDS
Thai Promotion Health Foundation
4
Thailand
Dr Viroj T
MD, PhD
Ministry of Public Health
5
USA
Dr Habib Benzian
DDS, MScDPH, PhD
New York University
6
USA
Dr Cristin Kearns
DDS, MBA
Univ. of California, San Francisco (UCSF)
7
USA
Dr Robert Weyant
DMD, DrPH
Pittsburgh Univ. School of Dental Med
8
Canada
Dr Paul Allison
OMFS, DrPH, PhD
Canadian Academy of Health Sciences
9
Canada
Dr Mary McCallum
DMD
Private Dental Practice
10
UK
Dr Blanaid Daly
MSc DPH, PhD
Dublin Dental University, Ireland
11
UK
Dr LD Macpherson
Dentist + MPH+ PhD
University of Glasgow, UK
12
UK
Katie Dain
MA (SOAS), London
CEO, NCD Alliance, London
13
Brazil
Dr Roger Celeste
PhD (Epidemiology)
UFRGS
14
Brazil
Dr Marco Peres
PhD (Epidemiology)
Griffith Univ., Queensland, Australia
15
Brazil
Dr Aluisio J Barros
MD, PhD
University Federal de Pelotas (UFPel)
16
South Africa
Dr Lekan Ayo Yusuf
PhD (Health Educn)
Deputy VC, SM Health Science Uni
17
South Africa
Dr Usuf Chikte
Msc DPH + PhD
Stellenbosch University, South Africa
18
France
Dr Benoit Varenne
PhD (Epidemiology)
NCD Department, WHO
19
Netherlands
Dentist Stephan Listl
PhD (Economics)
Radboud University, Netherlands
20
Hong Kong
Dr Judith Mackay
Medical Dr.
Hong Kong University (HKU)
21
Kenya
Dr MW Muriithi
BDS +MPH
Ministry of Health, Kenya
22
Australia
Dr Sharon Friel
MSc, PhD
Australian National University (ANU)
23
Japan
Dr Manabu Sumi
Medical + PhD
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan
24
Fiji
Dr Leenu M
MDS (Orthodontics)
Private Group Dental Practice
25
Colombia
Dr Gina Watson
MBBS + MPH
Country rep of WHO/PAHO in Ecuador
Key Priorities of Lancet’s Commission on Oral Health:
1. Governance and Advocacy for Global Oral Health
Explore best practices to raise the political and policy profile of oral health and integrate oral health within the wider health policy and development frameworks.
2. Equity, Social Justice and Oral Health
Develop improved evidence-based monitoring systems to assess oral health equity, review evidence of the effectiveness of interventions to reduce oral health inequalities and inform policy development to promote oral health equity.
3. Health System Reform, Governance and Transformation
Provide evidence to support policymakers to develop robust and resilient oral healthcare systems across the globe including human resources, payment systems, integrated delivery models, relevant technology and minimising environmental impact.
4. Commercial Determinants
Highlight and expose the influence of industry and profit motives on all aspects of oral health including education, research, service delivery and policy and develop appropriate means of minimising this influence and improving the transparency of industry relationships with oral health stakeholders.
Background of Lancet Oral Health Series:
Lancet’s series published on 18th July 2019 on Oral health argued that it has been isolated from traditional healthcare and health policy for too long. It called for greater prominence of oral health on the global health agenda campaigning for Non-Communicable diseases (NCD’s) and Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
Key Messages:
1. Despite being largely preventable, oral diseases are a major global public health problem. Most prevalent oral diseases globally are untreated dental caries in deciduous as well as permanent teeth, severe periodontal disease, complete tooth loss and cancers of the lip and oral cavity.
2. Most prevalent Oral Diseases worldwide (2010)
Untreated caries in permanent teeth: Ranks 1st, affecting 35% OR 2.4 billion people
Severe Periodontitis: 6th, affecting 10.8% OR 743 million people
Untreated caries in deciduous teeth: 10th, affecting 9% of the global child population
Complete tooth loss affects 2.3% OR 158 million people
Lip and oral cavity cancers: Top 15 most common cancers in 2018 (IARC)
3. Oral diseases impose a substantial economic burden on individuals, families and societies.
In 2015, oral diseases accounted for the US $ 357 billion in direct costs (treatment expenditures) and the US $ 188 billion in indirect costs (productivity losses due to absence from work and school)
4. Personal consequences of chronic untreated oral diseases are severe and include unremitting pain, sepsis, reduced quality of life, lost school days, disruption to family life and decreased work productivity
5. Oral diseases share common risk factors with other NCD’s which include tobacco use, harmful alcohol consumption and free sugar consumption. Of particular concern is the effect of free sugar consumption on the prevalence of caries, obesity and diabetes. Integrated public health policies needed to tackle shared common risks
6. 21st-century dentistry continues to adopt a treatment dominated, interventionist, increasingly high-tech and specialised approach to dental care. Such an approach has failed to tackle the global burden of oral diseases. Radical reform of dental care systems urgently needed
7. A preventive approach focusing on population-wide impact needed as the current individualistic clinical paradigm has failed to achieve sustained improvements in population oral healthy.
8. Provider payment systems should put more emphasis on incentivising prevention instead of rewarding restorative and interventionist dental care
9. A range of highly developed corporate marketing strategies is used by the global sugar industry to increase their sales and profits.
For e.g. By 2020,
Coca- Cola set aside the US $ 12 billion on marketing across Africa
PepsiCo set aside the US $ 12 billion for marketing its products in India
WHO’s total budget of 2017 was the US $ 4.4 billion
Tighter regulation and legislation by governments required
10. Pressing need to develop a clear and transparent conflict of interest policies and procedures to limit the influence of the sugar industry on dental research and oral health policy.
Author: Dr Divyesh B Mundra is an analytical healthcare management professional.
Masters in Health Administration (MHA) from the most reputed Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai.
Since then, he is working for one of India's most innovative healthcare organisations (private hospital chain) based out of Bangalore, Karnataka. He is an avid reader and tweets daily on the Indian healthcare system. Dr Divyesh Mundra on Twitter Dr Divyesh Mundra on LinkedIn
NEW YORK, U.S.: At the 2019 United Nations General Assembly, a side event, hosted by New York University (NYU) and The Lancet, called for oral health to be ...
WARDHA, India: Health authorities in India face several obstacles in the efficient delivery of dental care, including a dentist-to-population ratio that is ...
DURBAN, South Africa: As the number of reported cases of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) continues to climb across the globe, the special ...
This guest editorial comes from Dr. Wenyuan Shi, Chief Scientific Officer and Chief Executive Officer of The Forsyth Institute – the only independent ...
BOSTON, U.S./ KIGALI, Rwanda: Experts have been warning about the consequences of climate change for years, and with every year that the situation worsens, ...
The increasing burden of untreated dental conditions and lack of oral health initiatives in global health agendas has been a cause of concern for ages ...
GHAZIABAD, India: Nearly half of all children in India have early childhood caries (ECC), and research shows that reducing ECC incidence requires the ...
BENGALURU, India: Osseointegration Society of India, with the theme “Let’s Integrate,” organized its 1st National Implantology Conference from 21st to...
Dr. Bhuvan Nagpal, MDS is a practicing oral pathologist and the founder of the Practicing Oral Pathologists and Microbiologists Association (POPMA)— a ...
The Department of Health Research (DHR), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Government of India, invites all researchers to submit research ...
To post a reply please login or register