Excerpt

The National Call To Action To Promote Oral Health is addressed to professional organizations and individuals concerned with the health of their fellow Americans. It is an invitation to expand plans, activities, and programs designed to promote oral health and prevent disease, especially to reduce the health disparities that affect members of racial and ethnic groups, poor people, many who are geographically isolated, and others who are vulnerable because of special oral health care needs. The National Call To Action To Promote Oral Health, referred to as the Call To Action, reflects the work of a partnership of public and private organizations who have specified a vision, goals, and a series of actions to achieve the goals. It is their hope to inspire others to join in the effort, bringing their expertise and experience to enrich the partnership and thus accelerate a movement to enhance the oral and general health and well-being of all Americans.

Contents

• Preface from the Surgeon General
• Introduction
  • Origins of the Call To Action
  • The Rationale for Action
• Partnering for Progress
• Vision and Goals
  • The Vision
  • The Goals
• The Actions
  • Action 1. Change Perceptions of Oral Health
  • Action 2. Overcome Barriers by Replicating Effective Programs and Proven Efforts
  • Action 3. Build the Science Base and Accelerate Science Transfer
  • Action 4. Increase Oral Health Workforce Diversity, Capacity, and Flexibility
  • Action 5. Increase Collaborations
• The Need for Action Plans with Monitoring and Evaluation Components
• Next Steps
• Appendix 1 Partnership Network Members (as of November 2001)
• Appendix 2 What People Said
• References

A Public-Private Partnership under the leadership of the Office of the Surgeon General

Acknowledgements: We express our appreciation to the many voluntary and professional organizations, private and government agencies, foundations, and universities that contributed to the development of this document. We thank them for their existing and future efforts to improve the nation’s health through promoting oral health and for their commitment to public-private partnerships.

Suggested citation:

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. National Call to Action to Promote Oral Health. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. NIH Publication No. 03-5303, Spring 2003.