Oral health highlighted as a key global public health priority

The ADA's membership of the FID World Dental Federation (FDI) ensures it has a voice and a role to play in the promotion and prioritisation of oral health on a global scale.

On arena in which these policies find a voice and widespread support is the World Health Organization (WHO), the Executive Board of which convened its 158th session (EB158) in Geneva, Switzerland from 2-6 February. The Executive Board is a critical forum for shaping global health policies, fostering multilateralism and securing consensus for urgent public health responses.

Pleasingly among a wide-ranging agenda which included discussion on noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and mental health, rare diseases, neglected tropical diseases, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and Universal Health Coverage, oral health figured prominently.

Hailing it as an "unprecedented commitment to oral health", FDI noted that this meeting featured oral health under discussion in the following areas:

• The prevention and control of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and particularly a report on highlighting the outcome of the 2025 UN High-Level Meeting for the prevention and control of NCDs and the promotion of mental health and wellbeing (HLM4).
  
  
• WHO guideline on environmentally friendly and less invasive oral health care for preventing and managing dental caries, which "provides recommendations on mercury-free dental products, including materials believed to be direct alternatives to dental amalgam for the prevention and management of dental caries."
  
  
• The NCDs report also provided an update on the Global Action Plan on Physical Activity 2018–2030, during which oral health was referenced in the statements delivered by seven Member States, as well as in the statements delivered on behalf of the WHO Western Pacific and African Regions.
  
  
• EB158 also reviewed the draft strategy on the economics of health for all (2026–2030) which provides guidance on how to ensure an economy that both serves and benefits from health for all. 

Participation in the EB158 and WHO's 79th World Health Assembly (WHA79, May 2026) enables FDI, and members and partners like the ADA, to monitor policy evolution, contribute technical expertise during consultations, and reinforce accountability at national and regional levels. FDI is committed to actively engaging in WHA79 to sustain and strengthen the political commitment to the global oral health agenda.