Scaling Up Oral Health Strategies
for NCD Prevention

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Almost 3.7 billion people worldwide suffer from oral diseases such as caries or gum disease. But despite the proven connection between oral health and overall health and well-being, it remains a neglected global health challenge that disproportionately impacts vulnerable communities in low- and middle-income countries, or LMICs.

The fight to ensure oral health for all is gaining momentum and the World Health Organization passed its first Resolution on Oral Health in 2021, urging countries to address key risk factors of oral diseases. The resulting Global Strategy and Action Plan on Oral Health 2023-2030 lays out two overarching global targets to be achieved by 2030, including ensuring that 80% of the global population can access essential oral health care services and reducing the global prevalence of the main oral diseases by 10%.

This event, hosted by Devex in partnership with Haleon, explored how countries can make progress on the goals and improve access to and the affordability of essential oral health care services. It also gathered experts to discuss how LMICs can develop and implement national oral health road maps highlighting the importance of taking an inclusive approach to this development, as well as what’s needed for policymakers to prioritize oral health in national health policies and strategies in the lead up to the U.N. High-Level Meeting on NCDs in September 2025.