Africa-Press – Botswana. Dentists play a pivotal role in combating non-communicable diseases (NCDs) which continue to cause a major global health and economic concern.
Speaking during the second edition of the Oral Health Expo, hosted by the Vogue Dental World in Gaborone recently, Acting Minister of Health, Mr Sethomo Lelatisitswe said the high prevalence of NCDs were often interlinked with oral health conditions.
Therefore, he urged the dental fraternity to fully participate in preventative measures of NCDs for the betterment of the people’s health, saying oral health was often neglected by many.
He nevertheless said the ministry was committed to engage with the professionals from different cadres, oral health included, to work on policies and activities geared towards empowering communities and arresting risk behaviours.
Meanwhile, Mr Lelatisitswe implored the dentistry to embrace the digital era and swiftly adopt Artificial Intelligence tools for the sake of local innovation.
He said government had made available many funding opportunities for innovative solutions and research.
“We, therefore, wish for dental technologies and indigenous oral healthcare products to be made here by Batswana, for Botswana.
We need to see more of the statistics and analysis of disease patterns coming from our very own ground with recommendations tailor-made to our communities and needs of our people,” he said.
He highlighted that in 1976, Botswana graduated its first dental therapists from the then National Health Institute and since then, the oral health services had grown immensely and that currently there were 35 government health facilities and two mission hospitals providing such.
“We now have a total of 87 dentists in government facilities,” said Mr Lelatisitswe, applauding Vogue Dental World for its continued commitment to spearheading conversations that paid attention to new and inclusive oral health solutions that could propel Botswana’s health sector to the next level.
He said through wings such as Rural Development Council and NAHPA, the ministry would be able to set specific targets aimed at alleviating the burden of oral diseases, aiding access to services and ultimately improving management of other systemic health conditions aggravated by poor dental care.
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