June 2010 - Supplement 1

Since the first World Health Organization (WHO) Global Conference on Health Promotion (GCHP) that produced the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, subsequent GCHPs were held in different continents. It was Africa’s turn to host the 7th GCHP in Nairobi in October 2009, organised by WHO and Kenya Ministry of Health. The theme of the meeting was Promoting Health and Development: Closing the Implementation gap. It was the first time in the GCHP history that oral health received such a high profile and featured in one of the 12 special sub-plenary sessions. This report summarises the proceedings of the sub-plenary session on social determinants of oral health. Strategies for tackling social determinants of oral health and closing the implementation gap were considered, together with specific examples from developed and developing countries from different WHO regions. Oral health promotion implications were discussed based on public health experience and operational research. At the end of the session, input on oral health related issues was prepared for the Nairobi Call to Action adopted by the conference. In follow-up, the WHO Global Oral Health Programme contributes to the newly established WHO initiative Mainstreaming Health Promotion, which particularly seeks to build capacity in health promotion in low- and middle income countries. This work is carried out in support of the World Health Assembly Resolution (WHA60.17) on oral health. Key words: Capacity building, community empowerment, health policy, health promotion, social determinants, strategies