Overview of GOHIRA - A Call to Action

Objective: To define a research agenda to address global inequalities in oral health. Dental caries and periodontal diseases are among the most common chronic diseases known to man. These and other oral diseases remain a major public health issue for both high-income and low-to-middle income countries where there are insufficient funds to prevent and treat them. Over the last sixty years the prevention of oral disease has been revolutionised, in particular caries levels and tooth loss have decreased. However population statistics mask the major inequalities in oral health as most of the disease is now born by the less well-off members of our society. Inequalities in oral health persist both within and between countries.

Method: Because the determinants of oral disease are rooted in psychological, social, environmental, economic, cultural, political, and other highly relevant determinants of health, reducing oral health inequalities will require creativity, diligence and a strong commitment to partner with those involved in promoting global health. The International Association for Dental Research (IADR) is committed, through the IADR Global Oral Health Inequalities Research Agenda (GOHIRA) initiative to eliminating discriminative inequities in oral health through research and application of research findings. IADR is committed to accepting leadership in locating the appropriate and optimal avenues of achieving this goal and has published a Call to Action, to give effect to its mission.

Results: Three key challenges have been identified. These are:

1. Gaps in knowledge and specifically insufficient focus on social policy

2. The separation of oral health from general health

3. Inadequate evidence-based data (including: research driven programs, capacity-buildingstrategies, standardized systems for measuring and monitoring, etc.).

Conclusion: The IADR GOHIRA Call to action prioritises ten key research objectives to address these challenges. The development of GOHIRA, work to date, challenges identified, key research objectives and timelines will be discussed.