Only 17% of Africans have access to essential oral health services, says WHO

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says only 17 percent of Africans have access to essential oral health care services.

Chikwe Ihekweazu, acting WHO regional director for Africa, spoke on Thursday in a message to commemorate World Oral Health Day 2025, observed annually on March 20.

Ihekweazu said oral diseases such as dental caries, gum disease, and tooth loss affected 42 percent of Africa’s population in 2021.

He said the continent also has the highest number of noma cases, a rapidly progressing, non-contagious gangrenous disease of the mouth that primarily affects young children.

Ihekweazu said to tackle these challenges, member states endorsed the regional oral health strategy 2016–2025, integrating oral disease into noncommunicable disease (NCD) prevention and control programmes.

“At the global level, the seventy-fourth World Health Assembly (WHA74) in 2021 recognised oral health as a core part of the NCD agenda and Universal Health Coverage (UHC),” he said.

“This led to the endorsement of the global strategy on oral health (WHA75) and the Global Oral Health Action Plan 2023–2030 (WHA76), which includes a monitoring framework.”

He said several countries like Lesotho, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, and Kenya have taken action by developing oral health policy documents and training primary care workers using WHO’s online courses on noma and oral health.

He said despite these advances, the African region lags behind key oral health indicators.

“For example, only 17% of the regional population has access to essential oral health care services,” he said.

“Progress in disease prevention is also slow, including fluoride use and sugar reduction efforts.”

Ihekweazu said more work is needed, including engaging multisectoral stakeholders, securing funding through innovative financing mechanisms, integrating oral health services into national benefits packages, and using a people-centred approach to implementation.