Oral health for an ageing population (OHAP)
As we face the rapid ageing of our global population, many efforts to deal with this problem have been initiated in various fields of academic research and in medical, health, welfare, and community settings. Oral health has an essential role to play in achieving a healthy ageing society, particularly in terms of NCDs and frailty prevention during an individual’s life course.
The OHAP project started just after the 2015 Tokyo Declaration on dental care and oral health for healthy longevity. Season I of the project was launched in 2016 and yielded practical tools and a roadmap for healthy ageing. Building on these outcomes, OHAP Season II launched in 2021, is focusing on clinical issues, including oral functional decline in the elderly.
As population ageing is accelerating worldwide in both developed and developing societies, countries need public health policies and practices that are compatible with local needs and resources. The first part of the webinar will introduce global trends for achieving a healthy ageing society and sustainable social security system, present the outcomes and expected outcomes of the OHAP project, and discuss how Japan’s health policies integrate oral health into national and community health programmes. The second part of the webinar will focus on the use of the Seattle and Lucerne care pathways and the life care approach to improve oral health among elders worldwide. Clinical examples of frail elders will illustrate the approaches to improving care on both an individual and population basis.
Learning objectives:
- To learn about population ageing and oral health
- To gain awareness about the role of oral function of older persons
- To learn about the outcomes of OHAP Season I (2016-2019) and the expected outcomes of OHAP Season II (2021-2014)