Brazzaville, 12 May 2025 – A new fact sheet released by the World Health Organization (WHO) highlights an alarming and persistent crisis in oral health workforce capacity across the African continent. Chronic underinvestment in oral health services has left millions without access to essential care, making them increasingly vulnerable to preventable oral diseases such as dental caries, periodontal (gum) disease, and tooth loss.

According to the WHO’s findings, the African region has recorded the steepest rise in oral disease cases globally over the past three decades. In 2021 alone, approximately 42% of the population in Africa was affected by untreated oral conditions underscoring a profound gap in prevention and care services. This crisis is exacerbated by a critical shortage of skilled oral health workers. Between 2014 and 2019, the region’s ratio of dentists and other oral health workers per 10,000 people stood at just one-tenth and one-sixth of the global average, respectively.

By 2022, only about 57,000 oral health professionals were actively serving the continent, accounting for a mere 1.11% of the total health workforce. This equated to a troubling ratio of 0.37 professionals per 10,000 individuals far below the 1.33 per 10,000 needed to meet even basic universal health coverage (UHC) benchmarks. The WHO estimates that to achieve the 2030 UHC targets, Africa will require nearly 200,000 oral health workers, including over 100,000 dentists and 95,000 dental assistants and therapists.

Despite the urgency of the situation, oral health continues to be deprioritized in many African countries. The issue is frequently treated in isolation from general health policy, leading to fragmented training, underfunded infrastructure, and inefficient resource allocation. While there are over 4,000 health training institutions in the region, only 84 dental schools have been identified across just 26 Member States a stark mismatch that illustrates the scale of the problem.

Moreover, access to vital oral health services remains dismally low. Only 17% of the population benefits from essential oral health interventions under the major public health insurance schemes. Efforts to implement preventive strategies, such as increasing fluoride exposure and reducing sugar consumption, are progressing slowly.

“It is unacceptable for oral health to remain on the periphery of health policy in Africa,” stated Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, Acting WHO Regional Director for Africa. “Oral diseases are not trivial they have lasting impacts on overall health, education, employability, and quality of life. Governments must take decisive steps to expand the oral health workforce, increase funding, and embed oral health in the broader public health agenda.”

The WHO fact sheet aims to provide a roadmap for policymakers, health leaders, and development partners. It advocates for urgent and coordinated action to address the workforce crisis and reimagine oral health service delivery. Key recommendations include:

• Aligning national oral health policies with the WHO Global Oral Health Strategy.
• Implementing needs-based planning for human resources in health, particularly at the primary care level.
• Enhancing data tracking through systems like the National Health Workforce Accounts.
• Transitioning from treatment-heavy models to integrated, community-based prevention and health promotion.
• Adopting innovative workforce models such as task-sharing between oral health professionals and other health workers.
• Revising training curricula and developing robust retention and migration management strategies for oral health workers.

Dr. Ihekweazu concluded, “This fact sheet is more than a report it’s a call to action. Closing the oral health workforce gap is essential if Africa is to meet its universal health coverage goals. We must act now to protect current and future generations from preventable oral diseases.”

The WHO’s call reaffirms the need for high-level commitment and collaboration to ensure oral health is recognized as a fundamental pillar of human well-being and health equity across the African continent.