Oral diseases affect more than half of the population in the WHO European Region and remain among the most common noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Despite their significant impact on health, well-being and productivity, access to essential oral health services remains limited for many people across the Region, largely due to high out-of-pocket expenditures.
To support countries in accelerating progress towards the WHO Global oral health strategy and action plan 2023–2030, WHO/Europe is convening a multicountry workshop in Athens, Greece, bringing together representatives from ministries of health, oral health programmes, health insurance agencies and WHO country offices from south-eastern Europe.
The workshop will provide a platform for countries to exchange experiences, review progress, identify common challenges and explore practical approaches to integrating oral health into broader NCD, universal health coverage (UHC) and primary health care agendas. Participants will also be introduced to WHO tools and guidance for assessing national oral health policies, setting priorities and developing national oral health roadmaps.
Discussions will focus on:
- integrating oral health into national and subregional NCD and UHC agendas;
- implementing the WHO Global oral health strategy and action plan;
- applying the WHO Global oral health monitoring framework;
- strengthening essential oral health services and their inclusion in health benefit packages; and
- identifying opportunities for subregional collaboration and joint action.
Participating countries include Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo*, Montenegro, North Macedonia, the Republic of Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine.
The workshop is expected to contribute to rapid country situation analyses, priority action lists and draft national oral health roadmaps, helping countries to advance towards the global goal of ensuring better oral health for all by 2030.
*All references to Kosovo should be understood in the context of United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).