AIDPH hosted its annual colloquium “Confronting Inequity Through Oral Health Policy” on January 14 and 15, 2020. This year’s colloquium featured expert speakers from diverse backgrounds to lead the discussion around inequities in public policy and how clinicians, policy makers and leaders can affect change.

In this keynote address, Dr. Lois Cohen, a consultant with the National Institutes of Health, highlights the importance of oral health initiatives and international research collaboration to public health equity on a global scale.

Presentation Abstract

Addressing oral health inequities through a global health lens, while understanding national, regional and local challenges, is posited as a necessary prerequisite for finding solutions to advance social justice. By examining the historical context for such a global oral health perspective and the specific roles of the World Health Organization and other international entities, we can better grasp how oral health might be integrated into global health movements and associated initiatives and how that integrated approach might be applied at national and sub-national levels. Extant global oral health policies and those in development will be reviewed as well as the basic concepts underlying their existence. The need to build evidence globally and to mobilize both political and social will around the evidence-platform will be explored in order to understand how policies are both formulated and promulgated effectively.

What do you think? What can we advocate for in dental practice and oral health policy to work toward global equity in health care?

If you’d like to know more about the 2020 AIDPH Colloquium, you can check out the Book of Proceedings. You can also watch the complete presentation here. 

Post authored by:

Caitie Skaggs | AIDPH Staff

The American Institute of Dental Public Health

programs@aidph.org