Oral Health in HIV/AIDS update
Task Force Group on Oral Health in HIV/AIDS
The World Health Organization (WHO) has worked for the control of HIV/AIDS related oral disease by several activities. The WHO Oral Health Programme has prepared instruments for epidemiological analysis and to facilitate comparisons of findings from different studies. The Programme also aims at encouraging oral health personnel and public health practitioners to make oral health an integral part of optimum case management and introduction of surveillance activities of oral diseases associated with HIV infection.
According to the World Oral Health Report 2003, priority is given to effective prevention of oral manifestations of HIV/AIDS through additional actions. These actions are considered as an integral component of WHO and joint United Nations global programmes for control of HIV/AIDS. The WHO Oral Health Programme, in collaboration with other WHO technical programmes and WHO Collaborating Centres in Oral Health will facilitate and coordinate the expansion of successful initiatives. Such activities may focus on:
- identification of the most indicative oral manifestation of HIV/AIDS,
- training of other health professionals on how to screen for oral lesions and extra-oral manifestations, using the train-the trainer approach in order to reach health care workers at local community or village level;
- dissemination of information on the disease and its prevention through every possible means of communication.
The WHO Oral Health Programme has established a task force group in order to further strengthen the prevention of HIV/AIDS-related oral disease globally. The focus is particularly on countries in the African region and South-East Asia as the burden on these countries is particularly high.
The members of this task force group are listed below:
- Sue Naidoo, UWC, South Africa
- John Greenspan, UCSF, USA
- Eyitope O. Ogunbodede, Ile-Ife, Nigeria
- Peter Wanzala, Nairobi, Kenya
- Francisco Ramos-Gomez, California Pediatric Dept, USA
- Wipawee Nittayananta, Prince of Songkhla University, Thailand
- Morten Schiodt, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Susan Gennaro, University of Pennsylvania, USA
In addition to the above, WHO Oral Health Staff will also include:
- Dr Poul Erik Petersen, Oral Health Programme, HQ
- Dr Peter Berthold, Oral Health Programme, HQ
- Dr Charlotte NDiaye, Regional Adviser, WHO Regional Office for Africa