Nguyen Tan Minh, Arora Amit, Sethi Sneha, Gavanescu Danielle Justine, Heredia Ruth, Scully Ben, Lin Clare, Hall Martin
Deakin Health Economics, Deakin University, Level 3, Building BC, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, Vic. 3125, Australia; and Dental Health Services Victoria, Level 1, Corporate Services, 720 Swanston Street, Carlton, Vic. 3053, Australia; and Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Level 4, 553 St Kilda Road, Melbourne Vic. 3004, Australia.
School of Health Sciences, Western Sydney University, Narellan Road & Gilchrist Drive, Campbelltown, NSW 2560, Australia.
Aust Health Rev. 2023 Apr;47(2):192-196. doi: 10.1071/AH22278.
The landmark 2021 Resolution on Oral Health by the 74th World Health Assembly has elevated the importance of oral health into the global health policy agenda. This has led to the development and adoption of the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Strategy on Oral Health in 2022. It acknowledged the need to integrate oral health as part of universal health coverage (UHC), which is supported by national clinical leadership for oral health. Although Australia is a signatory WHO member state, it is yet to appoint a Commonwealth Chief Dental Officer to provide national clinical leadership. This commentary provides a background on the current issues on population oral health in Australia, an insight into the Australian oral healthcare system, and explores some of the challenges and learnings related to previous Commonwealth dental programs. This paper highlights why expertise in dental public health is required to steer national oral health policy that is focused on prevention and early intervention. A population oral health approach for UHC should be informed by evidence, prioritise and address oral health inequities, and be co-ordinated by national clinical leadership for oral health.
第74届世界卫生大会具有里程碑意义的2021年《口腔健康决议》将口腔健康的重要性提升到了全球卫生政策议程中。这促使世界卫生组织（WHO）在2022年制定并通过了《全球口腔健康战略》。该战略认识到有必要将口腔健康纳入全民健康覆盖（UHC）的一部分，并得到国家口腔健康临床领导力的支持。尽管澳大利亚是世卫组织的签署成员国，但尚未任命联邦首席牙科官来提供国家临床领导力。本评论提供了澳大利亚当前人口口腔健康问题的背景，深入探讨了澳大利亚口腔医疗保健系统，并探讨了与以往联邦牙科项目相关的一些挑战和经验教训。本文强调了为何需要牙科公共卫生专业知识来指导以预防和早期干预为重点的国家口腔健康政策。全民健康覆盖的人口口腔健康方法应以证据为依据，优先处理并解决口腔健康不平等问题，并由国家口腔健康临床领导力进行协调。
