The 1st Arab World Conference on Public Health set to be held in Dubai from April 4 to 6 will highlight oral diseases, a neglected epidemic that affects almost every one, increasing in prevalence as people age.

Oral diseases cause pain, infection, disability and even death. The most common oral disease is tooth decay, which may begin soon after birth with the primary teeth and continue anew in permanent teeth.

The Oral Health: reflections from the Arab World session, scheduled on April 5 in hall 3 of the conference center, will provide an update of programmes in the Emro region with particular focus on Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

The chairman professor Raman Bedi, head of International Centre for Child Oral Health, director of Global Child Dental Health Taskforce and chair of the Oral Health Working Group of the World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA), underlined why many today believe dental cavities in children can be eliminated.

The most common chronic disease in childhood can be eradicated but it will take a big effort from everyone to reach this goal – this conference will bring together the senior dental leaders in the Gulf to discuss how we can achieve such a target.

Speakers such as Dr S Al Bulushi (Oman), Dr M Al Darwish (Qatar) and Dr M Al Rafee and Dr M Farhan (Saudi Arabia) will discuss the various population-based preventive measures being undertaken in the Emro region to prevent the oral diseases epidemic.

The session will be followed by a meeting of the Oral Health Working Group of the WFPHA dealing mainly with regional issues in oral health. Prominent stakeholders from the Emrp region as well Dr P Vassallo, president of the CECDO, chair of the CED working group on oral health, co-chair of the EADPH and a member of the Platform for Better Oral Health in Europe, will participate in this meeting.

The conference is hosted by Dubai Health Authority under the umbrella of World Federation of Public Health Associations, and organised by MCI Middle East on behalf of Dubai Health Authority (DHA). – TradeArabia News Service