
Delivering Oral Health for People, Planet, Peace and Prosperity
The 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference (Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, COP29) — to be held November, 11-22, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan — will be the 29th United Nations Climate Change conference. COP 29 provides a forum for global dentistry to come together and prepare for the realities of the impact of climate that many colleagues are currently facing and experiencing around the world.
In conjunction with COP29, Penn Dental Medicine, working with the Azerbaijan Stomatological Association, will present the 3rd Global Oral Health and Climate Action Conference — Delivering Oral Health for People, Planet, Peace and Prosperity. To be held November 18, the COP 29 Thematic Days for Human Capital/Children and Youth/Health/Education, this live webcast brings together a diverse and inclusive range of speakers drawn from across education, research, practice and industry. The conference program follows. View conference concept »
9:15 – 9:45 (US time), 15:15-15:45 (CET time), 18:15-18:45 (Baku time)
This session focuses on the WHO strategic objective 1 — Oral health governance — discussing how to improve political and resource commitment to oral health, strengthen leadership and create win-win partnerships within and outside the health sector.
Key opinion leaders from global oral health address new and rapidly emerging issues facing education, research and practice, and need for a collective and coordinated response to establish a resilient and sustainable model of sustainable oral health.
Speakers
- Dr. Benoit Varenne, WHO Oral Health Program, Geneva, Switzerland
- Dr. Rena Aliyeva, Azerbaijan Stomatological Association, Azerbaijan
- Dr. D. Gregory Chadwick, President, FDI World Dental Federation, Geneva, Switzerland
- Dr. Christopher Fox, Chief Executive Officer, International Association for Dental Research, USA
- Dr. Mark Wolff, Dean, Penn Dental Medicine, USA
9:50-11:30 (US time), 15:50-17:30 (CET time), 18:50-20:30 (Baku time)
This session focuses on the WHO strategic objective 3 — health workforce — discussing how to develop innovative workforce models and revise and expand competency-based education to respond to population oral health needs.
It will also address how dental education can prepare students for an increasingly unpredictable future. What are the opportunities in an already crowded curriculum, how can we teach transdisciplinary and interprofessionally ? how can we build capacity in dental faculty to education and train on planetary health and One Health approaches ? What competencies and skills do students need ?
Speakers
- Dr. Faizan Alawi, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, USA
- Professor Nicolas Martin, Professor of Restorative Dentistry, University of Sheffield, UK; Chair of FDI ‘Sustainability in Dentistry’ Task Team
- Dr. Yuka Makino, Technical Officer, Oral Health Noncommunicable Diseases Team, WHO Regional Office for Africa
- Dr. Razia Adam, Deputy Dean Research
Associate Professor, Department of Prosthodontics
Faculty of Dentistry, University of the Western Cape, South Africa
11:35-12:00 (US time), 17:35-18:00 (CET time), 20:35-21:00 (Baku time)
This session addresses developing a new generation of global oral health leaders with a discussion on global oral health diplomacy and why it is important. A panel of dental students share how students can serve as ambassadors on global oral health and climate action policy.
Speakers
- Julian Fisher, Director, Oral & Planetary Health Policies, Center for Integrative Global Oral Health, Penn Dental Medicine
- John Button, student, Penn Dental Medicine
- Student Global Oral Health Ambassadors
- Columbia, Silvia Juliana Lopez
- India, Parnika S. Kashyap
- Portugal, João Botelho,
- Zimbabwe, Trish Matarutse
12:05-12:40 (US time), 18:05-18:40 (CET time), 21:05-21:40 (Baku time)
This session will explore transdisciplinary models of Whole-Person Oral Health within the Sustainable Development Goals.
Speaker
- Dr. Michael Glick, Fields-Rayant Professor, Executive Director, Center for Integrative Global Oral Health, University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, USA
12:45-13:45 (US time), 18:45-19:45 (CET time), 21:45- 22:45 (Baku time)
This session focuses on the WHO strategic objective 2 — oral health promotion and oral disease prevention, with the goal of enabling all people to achieve the best possible oral health and address the social and commercial determinants and risk factors of oral diseases and conditions.
It will also address how sports dentistry and the new definitions of oral health can catalyze innovation in dental practice and realize a model of environmentally friendly and less invasive dentistry.
Speakers
- Stavros Avgerinos, Board Member, European Society of Sports Dentistry
- Pr. Hervé Tassery, Professor in Restorative Dentistry Marseille Dental School, France
- Viktoria Peine, Certified Specialist in biomedical interdisciplinary dentistry and oral function, Lindau, Germany
- Valentina Gecha, Executive Lead, HFG Project, IIOPE
13:45-14:45 (US time), 19:45-20:45 (CET time), 22:45-23:45 (Baku time)
The private sector is key actor in the implementation the WHO Global Oral Health Action Plan (6 strategic objectives and 100 action points). This session will discuss the role of the private sector in contributing to sustainable development at global, regional and national levels and some of the opportunities and barriers on how to collectively prepare for/ adapt/mitigate the impact of climate change on dental practice and provision of care.
Speakers
- Samantha Cheetham, International Dental Manufacturers
- Dr. Maria Ryan, Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer, Colgate-Palmolive
- Christian Brutzer, Chief Commercial Officer, Ivoclar Vivadent AG
- Dr. Regiane Marton, ABIMO
The session will conclude with remarks from Dr. Mark Wolff, Dean, Penn Dental Medicine.
There will also be discussion on launching the 4th Global Oral Health & Climate Action Conference that will be held in conjunction with COP 30, to be held in Brazil in November 2025.