The Acting Regional Director for Africa at the World Health Organization, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, has raised concerns over Africa’s poor oral health indicators, despite advancements in healthcare.
He revealed that only 17% of the region’s population has access to essential oral healthcare services.
Dr. Ihekweazu made this known in a statement on Thursday to mark World Oral Health Day 2025, observed annually on March 20 to promote awareness of oral health as a critical aspect of overall well-being.
“Oral diseases such as dental caries, gum disease, and tooth loss affected 42% of the WHO African Region’s population in 2021,” he noted.
He also highlighted that Africa has the highest prevalence of noma, a severe gangrenous disease of the mouth that primarily affects young children.
“If left untreated, noma has a high fatality rate, and survivors often suffer from life-long impairments, disfigurement, stigma, and discrimination,” he warned.
To address these challenges, WHO member states adopted the Regional Oral Health Strategy (2016–2025), integrating oral disease prevention into broader noncommunicable disease control programs.
According to Ihekweazu, key risk factors such as tobacco use, alcohol consumption, high sugar intake, and socioeconomic determinants contribute to the burden of oral diseases, making an integrated approach with other NCDs—such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases—more effective.
“At the global level, the Seventy-fourth World Health Assembly in 2021 recognized oral health as a core part of the NCD agenda and Universal Health Coverage,” he said. “This led to the endorsement of the Global Strategy on Oral Health and the Global Oral Health Action Plan 2023–2030 (WHA76), which includes a monitoring framework.”
Dr. Ihekweazu also highlighted progress made in some African countries with the support of partners such as Hilfsaktion Noma e.V., the Borrow Foundation, and WHO Collaborating Centres.
He noted that Nigeria, Lesotho, and Sierra Leone have developed oral health policies, while Ethiopia and Kenya have trained nearly 1,400 health workers through WHO’s online courses on noma and oral health. Additionally, Ethiopia has enhanced its noma surveillance efforts by integrating case detection into mass drug administration campaigns for onchocerciasis.
“A new capacity-building project has also been launched in Kenya, Tanzania, and Zambia to improve access to WHO-listed dental materials, supported by Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare,” he added.
Despite these efforts, Dr. Ihekweazu acknowledged that Africa still lags behind in key oral health indicators. “Only 17% of the regional population has access to essential oral healthcare services,” he said. “Progress in disease prevention is also slow, including fluoride use and sugar reduction efforts.”
He also pointed out a severe shortage of oral health professionals in the region. “In 2022, Africa had only 56,772 oral health workers—including dentists, dental assistants, and therapists—equating to just 0.37 per 10,000 people. This is far below the required 158,916 oral health workers (1.33 per 10,000) needed to meet demand,” he explained.
To bridge these gaps, he called for accelerated implementation of the Global Oral Health Action Plan and emphasized the importance of securing funding through innovative financing mechanisms, such as allocating health tax revenues to oral health.
“We must integrate oral health services into national benefits packages and adopt a people-centered approach to implementation,” he stated. He also noted that WHO convened its first-ever Global Oral Health Meeting in Thailand in November 2024 to address these pressing concerns.
