Ghana Dental Assoc holds Annual Congress (page 44)

Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah & Hagar Korantemaa (July 3, 2008)
THE President of the Ghana Dental Association (GDA), Dr Eric Asamoa, has painted a disturbing picture of the state of dental health care in the country by stating that there are only 150 dental doctors to take care of a population of more than 20 million people.
He said that gave a ratio of one dentist to about 130,000 Ghanaians. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends one dentist to 80, 000 people.
“This situation is made worse when you realise that about 80 per cent of this number of dentists in Ghana are in the urban areas, mostly in Accra and Kumasi,” he stated.
Dr Asamoa was speaking at the 17th annual congress of the Ghana Dental Association held in Accra last Friday. It was on the theme, “Dentistry in Ghana, Challenges and Concerns” with the objective of reviewing the state of oral health in Ghana and to determine the way forward.
Dr Asamoa observed that the country had become a dumping ground for all manner of oral care products, adding that several of such products that were loudly advertised did not meet the required standards, yet they continued to make the rounds boldly in the country.
Addressing the participants, a Deputy Minister of Health, Dr (Mrs) Gladys Ashitey, said emerging health trends indicated that new medical cases such as oral health were fast becoming more common, hence the need for services to be redesigned to handle such conditions.
Consequently, she said the Ministry had placed oral health as one of the priority areas in the five-year policy objective.
Dr Ashitey said the Ministry recognised oral health needs in the country ranging from human resource to infrastructure and equipment, noting that a recent survey by the office of the Chief Dental Officer indicated a huge gap in the human resource needs of oral health practice in the country.
She said the planned strategic interventions outlined in the Ministry’s programme of work would scale up training of all categories of oral health practitioners in the near future.
In a speech read on his behalf, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Food and Drugs Board (FDB), Mr Emmanuel Agyarko, said research has pointed to a linkage between chronic oral infections and heart and lung disease, diabetes and stroke; as well as premature births and low-birth weight.
He pointed out lack of oral health care could lead to a number of serious health conditions, adding that the situation was more serious in children since it could interfere with their daily activities such as eating, sleeping, learning, playing and also going to school.
Mr Agyarko said many of the recommendations for improving general health could also be applied to improve oral health, adding that there was the need to promote good oral hygiene to prevent tooth decay in the first place.
Speaking on behalf of the sponsors of the conference, Unilever Ghana Limited, the Brand Manager of the company, Nana Yaa Kisi, said Unilever was fully committed to improving oral health of Ghanaians and therefore had been collaborating with GDA over the years.
She said the company had to grapple with a number of challenges in its duty, notably among them was counterfeiting of products, adding that last year several containers of counterfeited Close Up tooth paste destined for Ghana and other neighbouring countries were seized.
As part of the programme, 10 newly qualified dental surgeons were introduced.