WORLD ORAL HEALTH DAY
Dental News creates 3.6 Million smiles!
The World Oral Health Day 2019 campaign concluded successfully, resulting in 3.6 million bright smiles! In Pakistan, the campaign was conducted by Dental News in collaboration with World dental Federation (FDI) and Pakistan Dental Association (PDA), and in close association with Shield Pakistan, which sponsored the CSR activity. The movement for oral care awareness probed and penetrated many diverse population groups. Various programmes aimed at oral care consciousness were conducted as part of their WOHD’19 ongoing campaign.
World Oral Health Day (WOHD) is a far-reaching global oral health campaign. It is a platform for the public, oral health community, and policymakers to help reduce the overall oral disease burden. The official theme of the 2019 World Oral Health Day (WOHD) campaign was, ‘Say Ahh: Act on Mouth Health’. The scheme for this year was to ‘motivate people to take action about their mouth health.’
To realize these objectives, Dental News deployed its many resources, to awaken and foster the sense of care for oral health among masses. Through different contests and polls people were educated on the various facts and concerns regarding oral care; efforts were contributed toward raising awareness about the weightiness of mouth problems in order to push the masses to consider the status of their oral health. People were encouraged to immediately report any dental or oral problem, or even visit a dentist for a routine checkup.
On March 20th, Dental News, with sponsor Shield, erected kiosks at 50 dental colleges/hospitals/healthcare centers, in 16 different cities across Pakistan. Here the dental OPDs ran all day, free of cost, on WOHD, to maximize dental care benefit for the masses. The visiting patients were dealt with compassionately, they were keenly educated about their oral health by the dental professionals present at the camp, and screened for any dental or oral ailment, and were provided the needed treatment. Correct brushing techniques were demonstrated and basic oral hygiene guidelines were shared. Free samples were also be provided to the visitors. The Pakistani dental community rose as one to contribute passionately to the selfless cause of restoring the smiles of adults and children alike.
An outreach programme was also carried out at Matyari School, in the Hyderabad district, Sindh, for underprivileged students and staff.
‘Walk a Cause’ oral health awareness marches were organized by several partner institutes to amplify the effect of the campaign.
To mark the day, poster competitions and seminars on various oral care subjects were especially conducted in dental institutes on WOHD.
Dental News commenced its engagement campaign well ahead of World Oral Health Day. It kept the general public engaged; as well as involved individuals from the dental fraternity that stepped forward to passionately participate in this movement toward creating healthier smiles.The aforementioned activities scored a physical reach of 20,000 individuals!
Content comprising facts, tips and tricks, and general knowledge about the mouth and all that is within, was shared on social media. Posts with a dash of humour were also published to attract greater attention. These educational posts were consistently made on three different social media platform.
As part of its WOHD campaign, DN invited its followers and subscribers to send in their queries in regards to their oral health. These questions were answered by a Dr Hira M. Khan in a ‘Live Q&A Session’ that was aired on Dental News’ Facebook page.
Quiz posts were posted on social media platforms asking people basic oral hygiene/oral care questions with the intention of bringing their attention to oral health matters that are elementary, yet either forgotten or barely thought of. Common questions about brushing techniques, oral hygiene routine and timetable, and oral care tools are being asked to raise concern among masses. The intention is it to transform the cultivated concern and thoughts into action.
To educate people about the significance of a beautiful and healthy smile, a “Smile & Win” selfie competition was also launched, wherein the participants were required to click a picture, smiling brightly, with a Shield toothbrush and toothpaste in their hands; the picture then had to be posted on the participant’s social media with hashtags: #DentalNews and #WOHD19.
One winner was selected, via lucky draw, from the participants of each competition. The winners received exciting gift hampers at the end of the WOHD campaign.
The dental community was also stirred to partake in the campaign via contributing motivational blogs and messages targeting the masses. Video messages of several renowned dental surgeons of Pakistan were recorded with educational content based on this year’s WOHD theme. The video messages can be viewed on Dental News YouTube handle. Apart from the celebrated dentists of our country, which included the President of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Dr Arif Alvi- a dentist and one of the chief architect of WOHD- President PDA, and several heads of institutions, WOHD public service messages were received from many other dental practitioners, teachers, students, and its followers on social media.
The digital campaign bagged 3.6 Million impressions!
Dental News, with the combined efforts of all the contributors, was able to realize the goals and objectives of WOHD'19 campaign, which were mainly targeted toward creating oral care awareness among masses, and ensuring their wellbeing. Our impressive scores and substantial statistics speak clearly of our success and achievement of the desired mark in ‘Oral Care Awareness’.
The well-tailored campaign that was as per the guidelines of the FDI received tremendous recognition and engagement. The three groups of target audiences were effectually addressed; children and adults through ‘school outreach programmes’ and ‘awareness & engagement campaigns’ for parents/adults via social media and dental camps; thirdly, the government and policy makers were stimulated through ‘Walk a Cause’ marches.
Dental News will continue to strive for the recognition of oral health as a vital part of overall wellbeing, and remain committed to working towards better oral health for all.
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Acknowledgement
We gratefully acknowledge the support of Pakistan Dental Association, FDI, APDF, JPDA, DTI, IADSR, LWS BDS Chapter, DHAK, and Shield Corporation for supporting and sponsoring the event. We also acknowledge the contributions of the partnering institutions for joining hands with us in reaching out to the masses to create oral health awareness.
Partnering Institutes
WOHD dental camps for the WOHD campaign were organized at the following locations: KARACHI- Altamash Institute of Dental Medicine, Bahria University Medical & Dental College, Baqai Dental College, Baqai Medical Complex (Khuda Ki Basti), Baqai Medical Complex (Khushal Nagar Gharo), FWC Lyari, Salimullah Fahmi School Unit 1 Gadap Town, Fahmi Health & Education Center Gulberg, Dow Dental College, Dr Ishrat-ul-Ebad Institute of Oral Health Sciences, Fatima Jinnah Dental College, Hamdard Dental College, Jinnah Sindh Medical University, Karachi Medical & Dental College, Liaquat College of Medicine & Dentistry, Madina Medical Center, Sir Syed Dental College, Ziauddin Dental College; HYDERABAD- Isra Dental College, Liaquat University of Medical & Health Sciences; MIRPURKHAS- Bhitai Dental & Medical College; LARKHANA- Bibi Aseefa Dental College; SUKKUR- Dr Khalid Dental Surgery; QUETTA- Bolan Medical College; .MULTAN- Multan Medical & Dental College, Nishtar Institute of Dentistry; FAISALABAD- Punjab Medical College, University of Faisalabad; LAHORE-Chaudhry Muhammad Akram Dental Hospital, Institute of Dentistry CMH Lahore Medical College, de’Montmorency College of Dentistry, Lahore Medical & Dental College, Shaikh Zayed Hospital; SIALKOT- Islam Dental College; ISLAMABAD- HBS Dental Hospital, Islamabad Medical and Dental College, Islamic International Dental College, Watim Dental & General Hospital; RAWALPINDI- Margalla College of Dentistry; CHAKWAL- DHQ Hospital, Rural Health Center, Tehsil Lawa District; ABBOTTABAD- Ayub Medical College, Women Dental College; PESHAWAR- Peshawar Dental College, Rehman Dental of Dentistry, Sardar Begum Dental College; and MARDAN- Bacha Khan Medical & Dental College.