Ministry of health has announced plan to launch four oral hospitals in four Counties to cover the increased oral health complication across the Country.
Speaking at Mathari National Teaching and Referral Hospital in Nairobi Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki said an oral health benefit package would be included in the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) to achieve Universal Health Coverage.
She said her ministry is also developing an oral health strategy aimed at integrating oral health into the existing health programmes especially non-communicable diseases.
“The draft National Oral Health Policy is ready awaiting launch before the end of the year,” she said.
The announcement came even as a new report revealed that seven in 10 adults and four in 10 children under the age of five suffer from dental caries. About 90 per cent of Kenyans have periodontal disease, while an estimated 40 per cent of the children under the age of five have fluorosis.
The report by the Chief Dentist, Miriam Muriithi shows that oral cancers are on the increase and are now ranked third most common cancers in the country as dental caries in adults are more than 70 per cent.
“Lack of a current National Oral Health Policy after the previous one expired in 2012, is making it difficult to plan and strategies for oral health,” she said in a presentation at Mathari National Teaching and Referral Hospitals.
The World Health Organisation estimates that globally at least 65 per cent of school-going children and nearly 100 per cent of adults have experienced dental cavities; 30 per cent of the populations aged 65-74 years have no natural teeth and oral diseases are higher among the poor and disadvantaged groups.
WHO lists unhealthy diets high in sugar, tobacco use, harmful alcohol consumption and poor oral hygiene as some of the risk factors.
Now Kenyans have been urged to maintain oral hygiene to prevent widespread of the oral diseases.