The Inter-country Centre for Oral Health for Africa has appealed to the Federal Government to implement the national policy on oral health.
The organisation’s director, Dr Balarabe Sani, made the appeal on Thursday in Jos in a statement signed by the Centre’s information officer, Mr Yabagi Mohammed.
Sani said that the implementation of the policy would address the burden of oral diseases in the country by harnessing the political, economic and socio-cultural factors affecting orofacial diseases.
He further said that the policy would improve the awareness on the health implications associated with the lack for oral hygiene.
Sani noted that the policy’s implementation was capable of tackling the prevalence of oral problems in some parts of the country.
“Advanced oral cancer can spread to the entire body, causing untold damages to critical segments of the body system and would eventually lead to death,” he said.
Sani said that it would be fundamental to incorporate oral health education into general health education to boost the available manpower in the sector.
He called on healthcare facilities, especially the private ones, to organise oral health campaign outreaches in communities and schools to enlighten the public on oral health.
Sani commended the Federal Government for its support to the organisation through the Federal Ministry of Health and appealed for more support to enable the organisation to fulfil its mandate as a research institution in the area of oral health.
Our correspondent reports that the organisation is a Federal Government Agency with the Federal Ministry of Health and it is responsible for oral health research and training initiatives .
