PUTRAJAYA: The Third National Oral Health Research Initiative (NOHRI) Conference 2024, held on Friday (Sept 6), serves as an essential platform to empower dental health services through research and innovative, data-driven approaches.
In a statement today, the Health Ministry (MOH) highlighted the findings from the National Health and Morbidity Survey 2023, which revealed that only 25.7 per cent of the population had received dental treatment last year.
"This statistic underscores the need to intensify efforts to improve dental health status in our country, with high-quality research being a key component of this endeavour,” it said.
The ministry also said that the dental community’s dedication to producing high-quality research would drive continuous improvements in the delivery of oral healthcare in Malaysia.
The NOHRI conference is in line with Malaysia’s commitment to the Global Oral Health Action Plan (GOHAP) 2023-2030, which focuses on six strategic objectives, including dental health governance as well as disease prevention and health promotion.
Other objectives include oral healthcare, workforce development, information management system and research agenda.
According to the ministry, an innovative dental health information system is crucial for enhancing the monitoring and feedback mechanisms, allowing for evidence-based policy development.
"The oral health research agenda being developed also emphasises the specific context and needs of dental public health research,” the statement read.
To improve oral health status, the ministry has introduced the ‘1 Individual: 1 Dental Record’ initiative, empowering individuals to access their dental records through the MySejahtera app.
This digital approach not only enhances patient care but also supports forensic dental services, particularly in Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) processes.
Established in 2010, NOHRI aims to enhance evidence-based policy decisions in oral healthcare delivery system in the country.
The committee, comprising dental professionals from various agencies, plays a vital role in identifying research priorities and overseeing a more effective oral health research agenda in Malaysia. - Bernama
