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 integrated into universal health coverage (UHC). Among the main issues raised were the influence of the sugar industry worldwide and the importance of public-private partnership. The event was co-sponsored by the governments of Egypt, Japan and Thailand as well as the World Economic Forum and supported by the Henry Schein Cares Foundation.
“Oral health is largely ignored in conversations about global health and UHC, but The Lancet’s series on oral health and our recent event have been critical in creating visibility and urgency for oral health,” said Dr. Richard Niederman, chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Health Promotion at the NYU College of Dentistry and director of the WHO Collaborating Center for Quality-improvement, Evidence-based Dentistry (QED WHO CC).
In 2019, The Lancet published a series of papers on oral health. Dr. Habib Benzian, associate director of global health and policy for the NYU College of Dentistry’s QED WHO CC, co-authored a two-part article on UHC, focusing predominantly on the urgent need for reform and the role prevention will play.
Speaking about the action needed to be taken in a 2019 interview with Dental Tribune International, Benzian said: “We are calling for full integration of basic oral health care in universal health coverage. We consider that this is the most promising entry point for change. This means that everyone, irrespective of socioeconomic status, should have access to quality oral health care, including preventive services, at a cost that does not lead to financial hardship. Many countries have shown that this is possible and realistic.”
At the recent side event, the importance of innovative and collaborative partnerships not only in the dental community but also across all sectors was raised. On hand to put forward ideas about how to create a plan of action, Benzian said, “No one organization or sector can enact these recommendations alone, underscoring the need for collaboration and the important roles that governments, the private sector, academia, and others can play. Change happens incrementally, but we have to start somewhere,” he explained.
A number of co-authors of The Lancet’s oral health series were present at the event, and each had an opportunity to speak about their respective topics. Among them was Dr. Cristin Kearns from the University of California, San Francisco, who highlighted the influence of the sugar industry on science and policy processes, calling for reforms and strong conflict of interest policies to shield public health and dental research from harmful industry interference. Prof. Stefan Listl from Radboud University in the Netherlands discussed the economic impact of oral diseases, noting that dental diseases are the third most expensive diseases to treat after diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
The conclusion of the event saw a panel of key oral health stakeholders, including corporate, research, professional and civil society organizations, discuss opportunities and challenges for partnerships and multisectoral collaboration. In his closing remarks, The Lancet Editor-in-Chief Dr. Richard Horton noted that the current poor state of oral health around the world is the collective failure of the entire global health community. He pledged the journal’s full support in fighting for better recognition of and priority for global oral health.
Tags:
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 ...
The latest trends in digital dentistry are setting new standards in oral care, and this year, new advancements will push the envelope even further. To ...
WARDHA, India: Health authorities in India face several obstacles in the efficient delivery of dental care, including a dentist-to-population ratio that is ...
In today’s fast-paced world, where stress often leads to forgetting even life’s essential health practices, simple and recurrent reminders are ...
This guest editorial comes from Dr. Wenyuan Shi, Chief Scientific Officer and Chief Executive Officer of The Forsyth Institute – the only independent ...
GHAZIABAD, India: Nearly half of all children in India have early childhood caries (ECC), and research shows that reducing ECC incidence requires the ...
MILAN, Italy: Since the evidence of oral manifestations linked to SARS-CoV-2 is scarce, researchers have recently set out to fill the gap by investigating ...
In recent decades, we have recognized the vital role of microbiota in health and disease. The human gut and oral microbiota, the body’s largest ...
Every dental practitioner in the world desires a profitable practice. Interestingly, the corner stone of a profitable dental practice is controlling initial...
The 74th World Health Assembly (WHA74) has approved the landmark resolution on putting oral health back on the global agenda.
Live webinar
Fri. 19 July 2024
5:30 am IST (New Delhi)
Live webinar
Wed. 7 August 2024
3:30 am IST (New Delhi)
Live webinar
Wed. 14 August 2024
4:30 am IST (New Delhi)
Live webinar
Wed. 21 August 2024
6:30 pm IST (New Delhi)
Dr. Jim Lai DMD, MSc(Perio), EdD, FRCD(C)
Live webinar
Thu. 29 August 2024
5:30 am IST (New Delhi)
Live webinar
Mon. 2 September 2024
2:30 pm IST (New Delhi)
Live webinar
Tue. 3 September 2024
8:30 pm IST (New Delhi)
To post a reply please login or register