Malawi represented at the WHO Global Oral Health Meeting – Thailand

This is a guest post written by Professor Lorna Macpherson, a core member of the MalDent Project team and a Trustee of The Borrow Foundation. Lorna attended the WHO Global Oral Health Meeting in Bangkok from 26th – 29th November and has provided this report of her experiences at the event.

The WHO Global Oral Health meeting was held in Bangkok, Thailand, from 26th – 29th November 2024. This large-scale meeting was hosted by the Government of Thailand.

The specific objectives of the meeting were:

• To promote the implementation of the Global Oral Health Action Plan 2023-2030 and negotiate a joint Bangkok Declaration on oral health.
• To develop national roadmaps that will accelerate the implementation of the Global Oral Health Action Plan 2023-2030.
• To integrate oral health into primary health care and universal health coverage packages.
• To discuss six strategic objectives, 100 actions, 11 global targets, and monitoring of the framework of Global Oral Health Action 2023-2030.

Approximately 300 individuals attended the meeting. Member states were invited to send up to two delegates, and ultimately representatives from 98 member states were present in person. 

The Borrow Foundation provided a grant to the WHO to enable the 45 countries classed as ‘least developed’ to travel to the meeting and 36 countries, including Malawi, were able to attend. It was, therefore, tremendous news for The MalDent Project that Dr Innocent Lanjesi, National Oral Health Coordinator and Dr Jessie Mlotha-Namarika, Chief Dental Surgeon at Kamuzu Central Hospital, were able to travel to Bangkok to represent Malawi:

The Borrow Foundation was represented by Professor Andrew Rugg-Gunn, Nigel Borrow and Lorna Macpherson: 

The meeting also attracted delegates from UN agencies, international organizations, philanthropic foundations, civil society organizations, and other stakeholders dedicated to advancing oral health, non-communicable diseases, and universal health coverage programmes.

The first three days of the meeting considered driving change in relation to the six strategic objectives of the Global Oral Health Action Plan:

• Oral health governance, leadership, and finance
• Oral health promotion and oral disease prevention
• Health workforce
• Oral health care – ensuring universal health care for oral health  
• Oral health information systems
• Oral health research agendas

Two topics were covered each day. In the morning, keynote presentations and case studies were presented from across the world, followed by panel discussions from Member State representatives outlining their experiences, including challenges and opportunities for advancing the strategic objectives under discussion.  

Dr Jessie Mlotha-Namarika participated in a panel discussion on workforce, outlining the issues and recent developments in Malawi:

Planetary health was also discussed and the role for oral health care in building climate resilient health systems and in phasing down the use of dental amalgam was covered.

In the afternoon sessions, Member State representatives were divided into groups, reflecting the six WHO Regions, to discuss the morning session and to work on developing national roadmaps to take forward the strategic objectives: 

This was followed by a series of side events from 5pm to 6pm. Topics included noma, sugar control, school oral health programmes, oral health interventions for the ageing population and shaping a contemporary oral health workforce.

Jessie contributed to a side-event that covered oral health workforce:

There were good opportunities for social events and informal discussions. The Borrow Foundation hosted an evening meal with Drs Kofi Nyarko and Yuka Makino (WHO/AFRO) and Member State representatives from the African countries associated with the Foundation.

On the final morning of the meeting, three key activities were delivered:

1. A high-level session with presentations from regional directors and ministers of health from several countries, declaring their commitment to advancing the Global Oral Health Action Plan and integrating oral health into their national NCD and UHC strategies.  
2. The potential to form a Global Coalition on Oral Health, to assist member states take their oral health strategies forward, was proposed by the WHO and representatives from ‘non state actors’ described ways in which their organisations could collaborate and help promote the implementation of the Global Oral Health Action Plan. Groups participating in the panel discussion included the IADR, FDI, International Dental Manufacturers, UNICEF, the NCD alliance and charities such as The Borrow Foundation.
3. The Bangkok Declaration was adopted. This Declaration outlines collective commitments from member states to accelerate the implementation of the Global Oral Health Action Plan. It seeks to guarantee oral health as a fundamental human right and recognizes that improving access to affordable oral health care cannot be achieved without integrating it into primary health care and universal health coverage packages.

The Bangkok Declaration will inform the Director General’s report for the 4th UN high-level meeting on NCDs due to take place in New York in 2025, to ensure better recognition and integration of oral diseases in the future global NCD agenda.  

Following the conclusion of this successful global meeting, delegates have returned to their home countries armed with new knowledge and a range of activities to pursue in ways that are locally relevant and applicable to their individual nations. Taken in concert, these actions at country level will contribute to taking forward the global oral health agenda.

Acknowledgement

Photographs 1, 3, 4-6, and 9 in this post are credited to WHO / Ministry of Public Health, Thailand, to whom the author gives grateful thanks.