Orlando Monteiro da Silva

Oral Health included in the United Nations Non Communicable Diseases global strategy

September 21, 2011

Great achievement for FDI-World Dental Federation and all those who advocated for that approach.

Political Declaration from the High Level Meeting adopted by the General Assembly on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases:

We, Heads of State and Government and representatives of States and Governments, assembled at the United Nations from 19 to 20 September 2011 to address the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases worldwide, with a particular focus on developmental and other challenges and social and economic impacts, particularly for developing countries.

The United Nations “recognize that renal, ORAL and eye diseases pose a major health burden for many countries and that these diseases share common risk factors and can benefit from common responses to NCDs”.

Facing the facts (source FDI):

Oral diseases are the most common noncommunicable diseases
Some 90% of the world’s population is affected by tooth decay
A high proportion suffer from periodontal disease
Oral cancer rate high among smokers

Audio recordings of the meetings (source UN):

WHO welcomes adoption of political declaration on prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases. (01:16′, download)

Meeting on noncommunicable diseases should be “wake-up call” for action. World Health Organization (02:45′, download)

Non-communicable diseases a “slow motion disaster”. Dr Margaret Chan, WHO director general (00:27′, download)

Noncommunicable diseases do not have to spell doom for people of the Caribbean Desi Bouterse, president of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) (01:35′, download)

Dr Margaret Chan, World Health Organization (WHO) director general, speaking to the Assembly

Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC)

HRH Princess Dina Mired, director general of the King Hussein Cancer Foundation (KHCF), delivers a keynote speech

Attending Round Table 1 on behalf of FDI- World Dental Federation

In the UN General Assembly

With the FDI executive director, Jean Luc Eiselé (left), next to the United Nations building

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Posted by Orlando Monteiro da Silva

My taking office ceremony as FDI president…

September 15, 2011

My taking office ceremony as FDI president took place yesterday, 14th September, in Mexico City. It’s an exciting new step. I’m very grateful for your support. Please read my speech below.

SPEECH

Your Excellencies
Honoured guests
Ladies and gentlemen

When I attended my first FDI Congress in Paris in 2000, I did not imagine that, 11 years later I would be here, addressing my colleagues in a few days at the Opening Ceremony as FDI President.

It’s a moment of great emotion for me and I would like to take this opportunity to thank those who have supported me along the way, my family, my friends, and my colleagues from the Portuguese Dental Association, Ordem dos Médicos Dentistas, who supported my candidacy.

The work of each president is to lead, strengthen and update policy and strategy in response to new social, political, economic and technological developments. Here are some of my thoughts:

For decades, the dental profession – dental medicine as it should be designated – has limited its scope to the “operative or restorative” approach to dentistry. Today, it is generally agreed that we must move closer to the medical sphere., especially as co-related classic areas of dental medicine, education, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation demand this approach:

Why? Three reasons

One, a more and more invasive approach in dental treatment and rehabilitation as well as FDI’s strategic vision of leading the world to optimal oral health;
Two, population ageing in some areas of the world; an increased number of medically compromised patients; and increased awareness of patient safety issues;
And the third reason: the unequivocal link between noncommunicable diseases like cancer, cardio vascular and respiratory diseases and diabetes with tooth decay and periodontal diseases.

In fact, after this Congress, I will travel to New York to attend the United Nations Summit on NCDs. I will also be there to for the UN launch of an NCD Action Toolkit that FDI has developed, demonstrating its commitment to work through partnerships such as the World Health Professions Alliance.

As for me:

My first commitment is to ensure that FDI intensifies its great work with its private sector partners, for example in our Landmark programme Live.Learn.Laugh, or community-based oral health programmes in Africa.
My second is to identify ways to complement FDI’s considerable experience in the field of continuing education and ensure FDI continues to fulfil this great tradition.
My third commitment is a personal goal as the first Portuguese President: to better integrate the millions of inhabitants of Portuguese-speaking communities of the world into the work of FDI (once in Portuguese, once in English)

It is my personal ambition to support FDI in its efforts to lead them, and the world population in general, to optimal oral health.

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Posted by Orlando Monteiro da Silva

Preparing a speech to the Opening Ceremony…

September 8, 2011

..to 2011 FDI Annual World Dental Congress in Mexico City…

When I attended my first FDI Congress in Paris in 2000, I did not imagine that, 11 years later I would be here, addressing my colleagues in a few days at the Opening Ceremony as FDI President.

In the next few days, I will be updating this blog with some photos and comments from Mexico City. Keep in touch by subscribing to my e-mail alerts.

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ALUMNI International Magazine interview

July 13, 2011

Please check my interview at the ALUMNI International Magazine (PDF), from the Young Dentists Worldwide, as president-elect of the World Dental Federation.

Download PDF (303 KB)

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WHPA: Non Communicable Diseases

July 11, 2011

Me with Eduardo Pisani, Director General of IFPMA (International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations)

By invitation of the IFPMA – International Federation of Pharmaceutical manufacturers and Associations, I had the pleasure of participating as speaker representing the World Health Professional Alliance (WHPA) at the United Nations – Economic and Social Council, ECOSOC “Innovation Fair”, on 7 July in Geneva. The Fair run parallel to the ECOSOC High-level Segment.

The theme was Education for Non Communicable Diseases. I’m sharing a part of my communication, provided by FDI – World Dental Federation Head office Geneva, to a selected audience, acknowledging in particular Eduardo Pisani, moderator and Director General of IFPMA.

FDI President-Elect – brief address to ECOSOC – 7 July 2011

Your excellencies
Ladies and gentlemen

Thank you for inviting me to say a few words on behalf of the World Health Professions Alliance, representing the views of more than 26 million health professionals. These professionals play a significant role in reducing the global NCD burden through health promotion, disease prevention, patient care and rehabilitation.

One theme of this ECOSOC event is ‘Education for All’: we might equally say ‘health for all’. Health education or health literacy, as we call it, is so tightly related to education: whether it’s basic literacy, to read instructions on medications, or the ability to understand and use the information provided by the medical professional.

Health education will play an extremely important role as policy makers and professionals try to grapple with one of today’s major challenges: the global epidemic of noncommunicable diseases, or NCDs, as they are known. What we need is education, education for the professional, to communicate better, listen better, and education for the patient: how to interpret the advice of the health professional.

WHPA is currently involved in a project to develop and deliver some educational and communication tools to convey important messages to members of the general public on the subject.

Although social and environment factors play an important role in NCDs, our own behaviour can have a significant. The educational messages WHPA is developing are based on prevention: don’t smoke, or if you do, give up; limit your consumption of alcohol, eat healthy food, exercise and check your health from time to time with a health professional for danger signal.

These are easy messages, you may think, yet messages that encounter resistance not just from individuals but from the industries that promote and encourage, for example, smoking or unhealthy food. The important point we want to convey is personal responsibility for health through the choices we make and through our own behaviour. This will be a crucial factor in the fight against NCDs.

The other part of the WHPA campaign is to ensure that our views on preventing and managing noncommunicable diseases are heard by the major international institutions and reflected in the various declarations from international gatherings convened to discuss NCDs.

Our next target is the UN Summit convened in New York on 19 September. We have already provided input and we very much hope that our views translate into specific terminology that addresses our concerns in the Summit Declaration. What we recommended was:

Adopting an holistic approach based on common risk factors;

That due attention be paid to the social determinants of health;

To widen the scope of NCDs and associated recommendations to include oral health and mental health

Investment in the development and education of the healthcare workforce.

We also believe very much in the need to strengthen health care systems through a holistic health care system, with a focus on primary health care and strong link to prevention, specialized treatment and rehabilitation

I would like to close my remarks by quoting a colleague of mine who highlighted education in school as an effective vehicle to address noncommunicable diseases. Education on health in school reaches children at an age when they are still receptive about behaviour change and to acquire lifelong skills to enable them to lead healthy lives.

As a dentist, I would like also the role of oral health in the context of NCDs: the most common disease worldwide is tooth decay. It has large impact on societies, on children, on each an every one of us. Oral health also has significant co-factors with the other major NCDs. So, in educational programmes dedicated to the control and prevention of NCDs, let’s make sure we include oral diseases.

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15 km (9.4 miles)

June 30, 2011

Porto, my city, has June as the highlight of the most famous, traditional and colored festivities of the year. Every 24 June Porto citizens celebrate the birthday of St. John the Baptist. This municipal holiday had celebrated this year its centenary.

Porto gets dressed up with joy, lights, sound and a lot of frenzy. Everyone jumps to the streets, to celebrate this patron saint, which is a mixture of pagan festivities with religious celebrations. There is place for all kind of tastes and different activities.

Some of them come out onto the streets to launch the traditional St. John paper balloons into the sky providing hundreds of points of light, and to fill up the banks of the Douro River to watch the fireworks. Almost the Porto streets have music and crowds of people dancing, too.

By my side, I had jumped to join the traditional St. John Race. Just around 1900 people crossed the line. It was a good race to improve and test my shape! 9.4 miles nonstop!

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Non-communicable Diseases: Millions of deaths can be prevented

June 20, 2011

Last Thursday, June 16th, in New York, at the United Nations, a very important hearing regarding the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases took place.

The UN headquarters in New York

This interactive hearing, organized by the President of the General Assembly, Mr. Joseph Deiss, involved non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations, the private sector and academia. All Member States were invited, too. FDI was there taking a strong position on this issue, once more without losing the opportunity to identify steps for a future action plan.

Jean-Luc Eiselé spoke on behalf of WHPA, too.

Jean-Luc Eiselé spoke on behalf of WHPA

Non-communicable diseases: cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic lung diseases and diabetes – kill three in five people worldwide. We could ask why there are no more negotiations and outcomes to prevent this kind of diseases worldwide. Maybe because its own name doesn’t help. Regarding this opinion, I underline the report of HRH Princess Dina Mired (Jordan) at the opening session: diseases denominated non-communicable are undervalued in its impact on public opinion. It’s like if they are not communicable there is no need to communicate it or release it, so it’s not important. We have the idea that only what is communicable it’s important, so we have here an elementary problem in drawing attention. And more than ever, social mobilization efforts are needed.

Princess Dina Mired (Jordan) at the opening session

I am deeply concerned with the outcomes of this hearing, which will form the basis for the high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly, next September, where I also hope to be present. Our purpose should be to join several opinion makers in order to bring more inputs to this discussion and create a strong circle for a strong call of attention.

Me, Marion Bergman (Miracle Corners of the World) and Roberto Vianna

It’s our duty, as FDI members, to be aware and to make each government aware of the problem of non-communicable diseases and recommend specific actions for each one. What is being done, and what can be done. How can we communicate what seems to be non-communicable! It will be a marathon to reduce the impact and deaths caused by non-communicable diseases, but a solid start began in NY. And I was there.

Running at Central Park

(Photo “The UN headquarters in New York” licensed from Steve Cadman/Wikimedia Commons under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic)

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Portuguese Prime Minister-elect: Pedro Passos Coelho

June 8, 2011

Dr. Pedro Passos Coelho is the new Prime Minister-elect of Portugal, elected last 5th June. He will lead a centre-right government that has the purpose to implement a demanding austerity programme to make sure that Portugal honoured the terms of the bail-out and achieve new prosperity.

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18th International Dental Congress of the Turkish Dental Association

May 31, 2011

It wasn’t my first time in Turkey, but it was the first time I fell in love with turkey and its people. Maybe my predisposition was different this time, maybe what I saw touched me in a different way, or maybe it was just because I was welcomed so friendly.

I landed felling that even small things can give us pleasant surprises.

At the Miniaturk (the biggest miniature park of the World)

The organization of the 18th International Dental Congress of the Turkish Dental Association was super and they really did a very good job. The organization was exceptional, both of the scientific program and of the exhibition area.

At the opening ceremony I addressed some words to our colleagues, on behalf of FDI World Dental Federation. I’m leaving here the link for my speech (PDF, 53 KB). Bellow is Dr. Taner Yucel, who has given so much to TDA.

FDI has an important role on supporting its members. I was honored to take a closer look at TDA’s development and work, especially at the growth of its congress and at the dynamic role of dentistry in here. There are almost 25.000 dentists in Turkey and 23.144 of them are actively practicing their profession. The TDA was founded in 1986 and since then has been organizing the profession. Turks have an inspiring ability to keep things in perspective, and moving towards doing better. As a dentist with a voice within dentistry worldwide, I will always share what motivates each one of us for doing better in the field of oral health. Having in mind that even if we are a shadow or so different from the others that surround us, we will never quit, but instead we will try to fit at the space we have to act.

I took the opportunity to speak to several colleagues and establish contacts for FDI. I would like to involve more and more each one of those who aim to have better oral health for their populations.

Orlando Monteiro da Silva

Dr. Tarek Abbas Hassan (president of Egyptian Dental Association) and Dr. Ghassan Yared (president Liban Dental Association)

Dr. Taner Yucel, Dr. Duyger Ilhan and Dr. Philippe Rusca

Prof. Dr. Taner Yücel, Prof. Nermin Yamalik, Dr. Duyger Ilhan and Dr. Philippe Rusca

The land of Alexander the Great, the land where Achilles battled the Trojans in Homer’s Iliad, the land of the Ottoman Empire, the land of the fought battles is now the land of a cosmopolitan future, where dentistry has a place of great importance and will shape the world, accordingly. Where tradition could reach modern times!

Thinking about Julius Caesar’s words regarding Turkey “Veni. Vidi, Vici” (I came, I saw, I conquered), I could say that this great civilization has that effect on people: I arrived, I saw and I was conquered.

Only the cat remains as nothing had changed, glancing towards the future where dentistry has already conquered its place!

TDA Istanbul Congress Newspaper

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Best Smile 2010 for Mr. Vicente Del Bosque

May 25, 2011

The Organización Colegial de Dentistas de España, through the Spanish Dental Association, awarded “Best Smile” 2010 to Mr. Vicente Del Bosque, the coach of the Spanish National Football Team, that last year won the World Cup for the first time for Spain. His career has been full of success accompanied by ethical values such as fair play and fellowship. This is the profile needed to receive this prize that awards the dedication and dignity of successful work. The same purpose as us dentists, I believe.

It was a pleasure, for a football’s passionate like me, to meet Mr. Del Bosque and Fernando Hierro, one of the icons not only of Real Madrid Club, but also of Football worldwide. Hierro made story as a central defender or defensive midfielder in RMC for 14 years.

I would like to highlight the positive initiative of the Spanish Dental Association, and specially address my colleague Manuel Villa Vigil my recognition for his dedicated performance leading the SDA.

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