WORLD ORALHEALTH DAY 2020

SAY

www.w hd.org

I PLEDGE TO

WOHD20Uniteformouthhealth

www.w hd.org

CHAMPION ORALHEALTH POLICIES

ACTION TOOLKIT FOR POLICYMAKERS AND GOVERNMENTS

LET'S UNITE FOR MOUTH HEALTHTHIS WORLD ORAL HEALTH DAY, WE ARE ASKING POLICYMAKERS AND GOVERNMENTS ALL AROUND THE WORLD TO MAKE A PLEDGE FOR ORAL HEALTH. OUR COLLECTIVE EFFORTS AND PLEDGES WILL LEAD TO HAPPIER, HEALTHIER LIVES.

World Oral Health Day, organized by FDI World Dental Federation, is celebrated every year on 20 March. It’s the largest global awareness campaign on oral health and each year it focuses on a specific theme. The theme for the 2020 campaign is “Say Ahh: Unite for Mouth Health”. So, this World Oral Health Day, we want everyone to make a pledge for oral health. Through everyone’s collec-tive pledges and e�orts, we hope to reduce the burden of oral disease worldwide.

For all the latest campaign material and news, please visit:

Half the people in the world su�er from oral diseases such as tooth decay and gum disease, which can a�ect all the things we take for granted, like eating, speaking and smiling.

WHY?

This toolkit provides guidance for policymakers and governments on how to make a pledge in support of World Oral Health Day on 20 March 2020.

HOW TO SUPPORT WORLD ORAL HEALTH DAY?

ABOUT WORLD ORAl HEALTH DAY

www.world ralhealthday.org

More than 3.58 billion people su�er from untreated oral diseases.

The number of people with untreated oral diseases has increased by 38% since 1990.

Oral health is essential to general health and well-being at every stage of life.

Oral health is multi-faceted and includes the ability to speak, smile, smell, taste, chew, swal-low and convey a range of emotions through facial expressions with confidence and without pain, discomfort and disease of the craniofacial complex. Oral diseases, such as tooth decay (dental caries), gum disease and oral cancer, are the most common and preventable noncommunicable diseases.

The 2011 UN Political Declaration on Noncommunicable Diseases recognizes that oral diseases pose a major health burden.

Oral diseases and other noncommunicable diseases are closely linked and share modifiable risk factors.

Key risk factors for oral disease include tobacco use, the harmful use of alcohol, and sugar consumption.

Sugar is the primary cause of tooth decay – the most common chronic childhood disease.

78% of the global child population – 573 million children – had untreated tooth decay in 2015.

Oral diseases are the fourth most expensive out-of-pocket disease to treat.

Essential oral health services remain out of reach for millions of people.

Universal Health Coverage can help improve oral health outcomes and reduce inequali-ties in access to care.

The 2019 UN Political Declaration on Universal Health Coverage commits to strengthen e�orts to address oral health.

DID YOU KNOW ?

What will you pledge to do?Make a pledge to strengthen oral healthcare

PLEDGE TO strengthen health surveillancesystems to include oral health indicators and monitor progress

throughout the life-course

PLEDGE TO IMPROVE ORAL HEALTH SURVEILLANCEOral disease surveillance is the systematic collection and analysis of

data that provides information on a country’s oral disease burden,

population groups at risk, morbidity, risk factors and determinants. It

helps inform a country’s national response to the burden of oral

disease and enables the monitoring of health outcomes, trends and

risk factors.

PLEDGE TO

integrate oral healthinto primary healthcare

PLEDGE TO STRENGTHEN HEALTH SYSTEMS Globally, there are severe disparities in oral health and inequities in

access to oral healthcare. Incorporating oral care services as part of

comprehensive primary healthcare can help reduce cost and quality

shortfalls by treating patients under the same system.

PLEDGE TO

PLEDGE TO

introducea national oral

health plan

PLEDGE TO IMPLEMENT ORAL HEALTH POLICIES The most e�ective way to reduce your country’s oral disease burden is

through a national oral health plan that implements integrated,

evidence-based and cost-e�ective interventions to improve oral health

throughout the life course.

PLEDGE TO integrate essential oral health services

into your country’s universalhealthcare package

PLEDGE TO MAKE ORAL HEALTH ACCESSIBLE TO ALLUniversal Health Coverage (UHC) provides a unique opportunity to

improve access to essential oral health services and address substan-

tial out-of-pocket expenses associated with oral healthcare in many

countries. The integration of essential oral health services into UHC

will help improve health outcomes and reduce fundamental inequali-

ties in access to care.

embed dental workforces in overallplanning for human resources

in health to reduce serviceand access gaps

PLEDGE TO PROVIDE ADEQUATELY TRAINED WORKFORCESDi�erences in disease burden, inequalities in access to care impac-

ted by the socioeconomic determinants of health, and the unequal

distribution of dentists between and within nations present major

challenges to global healthcare systems. These challenges require

cost-e�ective management of the existing disease burden, and e�ec-

tive prevention to achieve sustainable improvements in oral health.

Population-wide access to adequately trained oral health professio-

nals is critical and this demands innovative multi-sectoral and

inter-professional collaboration.

Make a pledge to integrate oral healthinto universal health coverage

Make a pledge to promote healthy food environments

* Refers to free sugars that are added to foods and drinks by the manufacturer, cook, or consumer, and sugars naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit juice and fruit juice concentrates. It does not refer to sugar that is naturally present in fruits, vegetables and milk.

PLEDGE TO

introduce policiesto address the over-consumption

of sugar

PLEDGE TO CHAMPION HEALTHY FOOD POLICIESSugar* is a crucial causal factor in the development of tooth decay

and obesity. The World Health Organization (WHO) Guidelines on

sugars intake recommends that adults and children limit their

daily sugar intake to less than 10% of their total energy intake. This

roughly equates to a daily limit of 6 teaspoons for adults and 3

teaspoons for children, which would protect oral health

throughout the life course. Nutritionally people do not need any

sugar in their diet.

PLEDGE TO

enforce taxation on sugar-rich foods

and sugar-sweetened beverages

PLEDGE TO TAX UNHEALTHY PRODUCTS According to WHO, taxing sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) can

lower consumption and reduce obesity, type 2 diabetes and

tooth decay. Fiscal policies that lead to at least a 20% increase in

the retail price of sugary drinks would result in proportional reduc-

tions in consumption of such products.

PLEDGE TO ensure transparent

food labelling to help peoplemake healthier food choices

PLEDGE TO HELP CONSUMERS MAKE INFORMED CHOICESSugar is often “hidden” in various packaged and processed foods.

For example, 1 tablespoon of ketchup contains around 4 grams

(around 1 teaspoon) of sugar. A single can of sugar-sweetened soda

contains up to 40 grams (around 10 teaspoons) of sugar.

PLEDGE TO Pledge to limit marketing

and availability of sugar-rich foods and sugar-sweetened

beverages to childrenand adolescents

PLEDGE TO BAN MARKETING OF SUGARY FOODS TO CHILDREN Sugar is fuelling the epidemic of obesity and tooth decay in many

countries around the world, particularly among children and adoles-

cents. Statutory regulations can help reduce children and adoles-

cents’ exposure to unhealthy food marketing and reduce purchases.

Make a pledge to implement population-wide interventions

PLEDGE TO

implement evidence-basedstrategies to promote

the effective use of fluoridethat are most suited

to your national setting

PLEDGE TO PROVIDE ACCESS TO FLUORIDEFluoride is important in the fight against tooth decay. The regu-

lar, appropriate use of fluoride such as fluoride toothpaste plays

a key role in e�ective tooth-decay prevention strategies. There

is a large body of scientific evidence from the last 70 years

demonstrating the e�ectiveness of fluoride use in popula-

tion-wide interventions.

PLEDGE TO

Leverage World Oral Health Day

on 20 March to promote oral health and support the work of National

Dental Associations

PLEDGE TO PROMOTE ORAL HEALTH Driving public awareness on oral health issues goes

hand-in-hand with initiatives aimed at changing policy. Popula-

tions need to be empowered to make informed choices and

governments need to take responsibility and safeguard the oral

health of their citizens by implementing e�ective policies. World

Oral health Day (WOHD), celebrated on 20 March annually,

provides the ideal platform for decision-makers to collaborate

with their National Dental Association and be guided on the oral

health challenges faced by their country as well as map out

solutions together.

PLEDGE TO

eliminate taxeson fluoride toothpaste

and enforce equity pricing to make it accessible

and affordable to all

PLEDGE TO MAKE FLUORIDE TOOTHPASTE AFFORDABLEFluoride toothpaste is a highly desirable public health measure

and WHO recommends the removal of taxes and tari�s on

fluoride toothpaste. There are several cost-e�ective options to

make fluoride toothpaste available to populations, which can

and should be applied according to country’s regional realities

and legislation.

Make a pledge to break down disease silos

PLEDGE TO

integrate oral health into policies addressing

other NCDs

PLEDGE TO ADDRESS ORAL DISEASES TOGETHER WITH OTHER HEALTH ISSUESResearch shows that e�ective regional and national strategies to

promote oral health and prevent oral diseases result in population-wide

improvement of oral health and can contribute to preventing the leading

noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), including cancer, diabetes, cardio-

vascular diseases and respiratory diseases. The key risk factors shared

with other NCDs include unhealthy diets (particularly one high in sugar),

tobacco and alcohol. Hence adopting a common risk factor approach

and fully integrating oral health into population-wide NCD prevention

and health-promotion strategies should be encouraged.

implement the WHO ‘best buys’and other recommended

interventions

PLEDGE TO IMPLEMENT EVIDENCE-BASED SOLUTIONS The WHO’s 16 tried-and-tested ‘best buys’ and 72 other recom-

mended interventions provide a menu of evidence-based

options to help countries reduce their oral disease and overall

NCD burden. The ‘best buys’ provide countries with a great

return on investment – for each $1 invested in the WHO ‘best

buys’ yields a return of USD $7 by 2030.

PLEDGE TO

HOW TO MAKE A PLEDGE

1. Download the dedicated pledge boards for policyma-

kers and governments. You can also custom the pledge

text.

2. Print your selected pledge board. We recommend

printing it on a thick A3 paper, however a classic A4 paper

works fine as well.

3. Take a photo with the pledge.

4. Share it with us by email, so we can add it to our pledge

wall and publish it on our social media channels.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Use social media to communicate about your country’s

World Oral Health Day pledge and share key messages in

the lead up to and on the day.

Primary Twitter hashtags: #WOHD20,

#UniteForMouthHealth, #OralHealth

Sample Tweets: (feel free to adapt)

This #WOHD20 we pledge to integrate essential

#OralHealth services into our national Universal Health

Coverage package

We pledge to implement a national #OralHealth plan to

improve the lives and health of our citizens. #WOHD20

We pledge to #UniteForMouthHealth and introduce

policies to address the over-consumption of sugar.

#WOHD2020

Half the people in the world su�er from oral diseases such

as #ToothDecay and #GumDisease. Don’t take #Oral-

Health for granted – make a pledge for #WOHD20 now

We are part of the global movement to #UniteForMouth-

Health. Our collective e�orts and pledges will lead to

happier, healthier lives. #WOHD20

CONTACT US

If you have any questions about World Oral Health Day

and the information contained in this toolkit,

feel free to contact FDI World Dental Federation.

Aline Bochenek-Benoit, WOH Day Campaign Manager,

abochenek-benoit@fdiworlddental.org

Chaz Jagait, Communications & Advocacy Director, cjagait@fdiworlddental.org

KEY CONTACTS