We are committed to tackling growing burden of oral health diseases – Director-General

Despite efforts to improve oral health in Ghana, many Ghanaians still suffer from oral diseases such as tooth decay, gum disease, and oral cancer.

Currently, one out of every two persons in the country is reported to have oral health disease, prompting health authorities to scale up interventions and expand access to hard-to-reach areas in the absence of a national oral health policy.

Oral health hygiene management in Ghana remains a significant public health concern. The increasing prevalence of the disease among Ghanaians has highlighted the need for urgent action.

The challenges remain enormous from limited access to dental care at the rural communities to Poor oral hygiene practices among the populace. Tooth decay remains one of the most prevalent conditions across all ages which has increased concerns regarding the management of the disease in the country.

The Director General of the Ghana Health Service, Prof. Samuel Kaba Akoriyea, at an event to mark this year’s oral health day, says measures are being taken to tackle this growing burden.

“We will take measures to address them and to tackle this growing burden. The Ghana Health Service is scaling up interventions such as one expanding access to oral health care services. To solve this, we will be deploying more dental professionals to underserved regions and revamping the on-the-go mobile dental clinics to extend services to rural areas.

“Most of you might have noticed that eight years ago, they knock on your door. And I take this opportunity to say, from next year, we will not be sitting here. This campaign will be taken to the schools. We will take to the churches and market areas and any places that we can get to the people. So, schools are being engaged through the school health education program to ensure children develop lifelong hygiene habits,” he said.

However, the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) is concerned that the country is yet to have a National Oral Health Policy which will give the disease management in the country a regulatory framework.

Richard Selormey is General Secretary for the GMA.

“For decades, Ghana has not had an oral health policy and that has led to lack of prioritization of oral health as something that needs to be given the needed attention. We put a lot of attention on some cancers, like breast cancer, cervical cancer because of the emotional issues that are attached to it. And of course, they are important and prevalent but oral cancers together are very high. Some people report that it is actually higher than some of these cancers we are giving priorities to and often when they are found, they are at an advanced stage and debilitating. And because we don’t have any policy or programmes looking out for them, they turn to come at a later stage,” he explained.

The 20th of March every year marks the World Oral Health day and fifty percent of the world’s population is said to have oral health diseases. These years the day is marked on the theme ‘‘’Happy mouth, Happy mind”.

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