Message from WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Mohamed Janabi
On World Oral Health Day 2026, we turn our attention to a silent yet widespread health challenge affecting communities across the WHO African Region. Oral diseases remain among the most common and preventable health conditions, yet they are still one of the most neglected areas of public health.
In 2021, oral diseases—including dental caries, gum disease, tooth loss, and the devastating condition noma—affected 42% of the population. These conditions cause pain, disability, and avoidable suffering, placing sustained pressure on families, communities, and health systems.
Recognizing this burden, Member States endorsed the WHO African Regional Framework on Oral Health in 2025, advancing the WHO Global Oral Health Action Plan and establishing a clear path toward universal oral health coverage by 2030.
Countries are translating these commitments into action:
- Ghana, Madagascar, Tanzania, and Uganda have developed national oral health strategies, with support from the Borrow Foundation, to strengthen prevention and service delivery.
- Ethiopia, supported by Hilfsaktion Noma e.V., has trained over 850 primary care and community health workers to improve early detection of noma, integrating surveillance into mass drug administration campaigns reaching 2.6 million people nationwide.
- Malawi has established its first Bachelor of Dental Surgery program, built a new dental school, and graduated its first locally trained dentists, strengthening the national oral health workforce.
- Tanzania has expanded its workforce, deploying dentists to all 184 district councils and training 594 dental therapists, increasing health facilities providing restorative treatments from 25% to 45% between 2023 and 2025.
WHO Collaborating Centres, including the Japan Institute for Health Security and Niigata University, have supported countries such as Kenya, Tanzania, and Zambia to enhance primary care oral health services through workforce training and the delivery of essential interventions.
Despite progress, significant gaps remain. Only 17% of people in the region currently have access to essential oral health services. Workforce shortages, chronic underinvestment, and insufficient prevention measures—such as high sugar consumption and inadequate fluoride exposure—continue to drive preventable oral diseases, especially in underserved areas.
WHO is also supporting countries to adopt environmentally sustainable and less invasive oral health care, including phasing out mercury-containing dental amalgam in line with the Minamata Convention on Mercury. Evidence-based guidance, technical support, and new approaches, such as the recent WHO guideline on environmentally-friendly oral health care, are helping expand prevention, strengthen services, and integrate essential oral health interventions at the primary care level.
Improving oral health is fundamental to universal health coverage. Beyond reducing preventable illness, it lowers long-term costs and improves well-being across the life course.
On this World Oral Health Day, I urge governments, partners, academia, and civil society to unite in accelerating national oral health strategies, strengthening workforce capacity, and expanding access to essential services.
WHO remains committed to supporting Member States in integrating oral health into national health systems and advancing equitable access to care. With sustained commitment and investment, the African Region can reduce the burden of oral diseases, ensuring that future generations grow, learn, and live free from preventable oral health conditions.
Learn more:
- Oral Health
- Regional Framework for Accelerating Implementation of the Global Oral Health Action Plan
- WHO Guideline on Environmentally Friendly and Less Invasive Oral Health Care
- Tanzania Strengthens Oral Health Services Through Strategic Partnerships
- Africa Faces Critical Shortage of Oral Health Workers Amid Rising Disease Burden
