Scaling Up Oral Health Strategies for NCD Prevention

Almost 3.7 billion people worldwide suffer from oral diseases such as caries or gum disease. But despite the proven connection between oral health and overall health and well-being, it remains a neglected global health challenge that disproportionately impacts vulnerable communities in low- and middle-income countries, LMICs.

In-person, Ballroom B, InterContinental Genève + virtual streaming
Oral disease puts people at greater risk of other noncommunicable diseases, or NCDs, such as diabetes, stroke, heart disease, and respiratory conditions. It also contributes significantly to economic losses, both for low-income individuals struggling with high out-of-pocket costs as well as health systems. Oral health costs have been estimated at $710 billion a year in direct treatment costs and productivity losses, as poor oral health leads to missed school and work days, limited academic achievement, and obstacles to employment. While oral diseases are largely preventable and treatable at an early stage, they are often not treated as an essential health care need and not prioritized by policymakers. Despite clear links to other NCDs, and especially the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes among people with gum disease, oral health often falls through the cracks of wider public health interventions and financing for NCDs.

But the fight to ensure oral health for all is gaining momentum, and the World Health Organization passed its first resolution on oral health in 2021, urging countries to address key risk factors of oral diseases. The resulting global strategy and action plan on oral health 2023-2030 lays out two overarching global targets to be achieved by 2030, including ensuring that 80% of the global population can access essential oral health care services and reducing the global prevalence of the main oral diseases by 10%. In order to create a clear road map for accelerating action on the goals, WHO organized its first-ever global oral health meeting in Thailand in November 2024, where participating member states adopted the “Bangkok Declaration – No Health Without Oral Health: Towards Universal Health Coverage for Oral Health by 2030.”

This event, hosted by Devex in partnership with Haleon on the occasion of the 78th session of the World Health Assembly in Geneva, will explore how countries can make progress on the goals and improve access to and the affordability of essential oral health care services, including by integrating services into primary health care and universal health coverage strategies. It will also gather experts to discuss how LMICs can develop and implement national oral health roadmaps highlighting the importance of taking an inclusive approach to this development, as well as what’s needed for policymakers to prioritize oral health in national health policies and strategies in the lead-up to the U.N. High-Level Meeting on NCDs in September 2025.