Harare - 10 Dec. 2013 A Regional con-sultation to develop a Regional Action Plan and targets for integrating oral dis-eases into NCDs prevention and control in the African Region was officially opened by Dr David Okello, WHO Repre-sentative and IST/ESA Coordinator in Harare.

The meeting brought together Chief Den-tal Officers from the Anglophone and Lusophone countries of WHO/AFRO, WHO Collaborating Centers for Oral Health; as well as partners and facilitators from WHO/AFRO. It is expected that dur-ing the 2-day meeting participants will provide technical input to the draft of the regional action plan and targets for the prevention and control of oral diseases in the WHO African region 2014-2020.

The objectives of the meeting are:

• To update participants on global and regional NCD initiatives relevant to oral health;
• To review experiences from national oral health programmes for the prevention and control of oral diseases integrated to NCDs programmes in countries;
• To identify how best to integrate effective oral health strategies and interventions into the global and regional NCDs policies available;
• To provide technical inputs on the draft regional action plan and proposed targets for the prevention and control of oral diseases in the WHO African region 2014-2020; and
• To agree on a common agenda and follow-up for ensuring the finalization and the commitment by Member States for the regional action plan and targets for prevention and control of oral diseases 2014-2020.

In September 2011, at the UN High-level Meeting of the General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of NCDs, 193 member states recognized that oral diseases pose a major health burden for many countries, have common risk factors with the key NCDs and can therefore benefit from common responses to NCDs. In order to facilitate this paradigm shift of developing oral health strategies under the NCDs umbrella, WHO AFRO has organized this con-sultation. In his opening remarks, Dr Okello urged participants to draft a concise and actionable policy document for advocacy and endorsement by Member States. He also implored the organizers of the meeting to maintain regu-lar dialogue and interaction with oral health experts from countries in the region."