Abuja, Nigeria, 20 March, 2015 - Nigeria has organised a week-long programme of activities to celebrate the 2015 World Oral Health Day (WOHD). The activities were kicked off with a press briefing on 16th March 2015 by Nigeria’s National Oral Health Champion, Senator (Dr.) David Mark, who is also the Chairman of Nigeria’s National Assembly and President of Nigeria’s Senate. The press briefing took place at the premises of the National Assembly Complex, Abuja.

In his remarks, the WHO Country Representative (WR) in Nigeria, Dr Rui Gama Vaz, stated that the theme of this year’s WOHD, ‘Smile for life’ underscores the importance of Oral Health as integral to the general health and well-being of all people and therefore a basic a basic human right.

Dr. Vaz observed that oral diseases such as oral cancers, periodontal disease and tooth loss are among the most common and preventable non-communicable diseases worldwide and are more common among poor and disadvantaged population groups who are less able to cope with the socio-economic and health consequences of the diseases.

He added that “the growing problem of oral diseases in Nigeria as it is with other countries in the African region, is largely related to risk factors which include poor oral hygiene, unhealthy diet, tobacco use and harmful alcohol use which are also risk factors for the four leading chronic diseases – cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes”. He added that “Given Nigeria’s population of over 170million, there is a significant proportion of the population living life without a smile due to poor oral health.”

Dr Vaz further noted that the burden of oral diseases and other chronic diseases can be decreased by addressing common risk factors such as decreasing sugar intake, maintaining a well-balanced nutritional intake, ensuring proper oral hygiene, consuming fruits and vegetables, stopping tobacco use and decreasing alcohol consumption.  

He drew attention to the unequal distribution of oral health professionals, the lack of appropriate facilities within the health care system, failure to allocate sufficient resources and commitment to oral health and the need for extensive strengthening of the health delivery system particularly at primary care level through simple and affordable services addressing the most common oral conditions.

“We in  WHO are  committed  to providing technical support to the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) to address the burden of NCD in general and oral diseases in particular including promotion of disease surveillance and prevention of risk factors within the context of strengthening health systems, based on the PHC approach” Dr Vaz concluded

In his address, the Minister of Health, Dr Khaliru Alhassan, appreciated the Senate President, Dr David Mark, for his personal commitment to oral health service delivery. He informed that the Senate President was decorated as the National Oral Health Champion during the launch of the National Oral Health Policy in November 2014 in recognition of his commitment and strong advocacy for oral health service delivery.

Addressing the press briefing, Dr David Mark confirmed that promoting oral health is dear to him more so because it affects the most vulnerable populations in Nigeria more especially children, the poor and the illiterate. He pledged his personal commitment and that of the National Assembly to promote oral health in Nigeria.

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