Advancing the concept of global oral health to strengthen actions for planetary health and One Health.

Advancing the concept of global oral health can help tackle the triple planetary crises of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste. A model for oral and planetary health places more explicit focus on understanding the state of the Earth's systems, changing environment in relation to planetary health boundaries and their impact on human well-being. This can facilitate a planet-centric critical thinking for equity in global oral health that contributes to UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Artificial intelligence for sustainable oral healthcare.

OBJECTIVES: Oral health is grounded in the United National (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Developement and its 17 Goals (SDGs), in particular SDG 3 (Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages). The World Health Organization (WHO) Global Strategy on Oral Health calls for prioritizing environmentally sustainable and less invasive oral health care, and planetary health. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to power the next generation of oral health services and care, however its relationship with the broader UN and WHO concepts of sustainability remains poorly defined and articulated. We review the double-edged relationships between AI and oral health, to suggest actions that promote a sustainable deployment of AI for oral health. DATA: Concepts regarding AI, sustainability and sustainable development were identified and defined. A review of several double-edged relationship between AI and SDGs were exposed for the field of Oral Health. SOURCES: Medline and international declarations of the WHO, the UN and the World Dental Federation (FDI) were screened. STUDY SELECTION: One the one hand, AI may reduce transportation, optimize care delivery (SDG 3 "Good Health and Well-Being", SDG 13 "Climate Action"), and increase accessibility of services and reduce inequality (SDG 10 "Reduced Inequalities", SDG 4 "Quality Education"). On the other hand, the deployment, implementation and maintenance of AI require significant resources (SDG 12 "Responsible Consumption and Production"), and costs for AI may aggravate inequalities. Also, AI may be biased, reinforcing inequalities (SDG 10) and discrimination (SDG 5), and may violate principles of security, privacy and confidentiality of personal information (SDG 16). CONCLUSIONS: Systematic assessment of the positive impact and adverse effects of AI on sustainable oral health may help to foster the former and curb the latter based on evidence. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: If sustainability imperatives are actively taken into consideration, the community of oral health professionals should then employ AI for improving effectiveness, efficiency, and safety of oral healthcare; strengthen oral health surveillance; foster education and accessibility of care; ensure fairness, transparency and governance of AI for oral health; develop legislation and infrastructure to expand the use of digital health technologies including AI.

Planetary health benefits from strengthening health workforce education on the social determinants of health.

Social inequalities are perpetuating unhealthy living and working conditions and behaviours. These causes are commonly called 'the social determinants of health'. Social inequalities are also impacting climate change and vice-versa, which, is causing profound negative impacts on planetary health. Achieving greater sustainability for human and planetary health demands that the health sector assumes a greater leadership role in addressing social inequalities. This requires equipping health and social care workers to better understand how the social determinants of health impact patients and communities. Integration of the social determinants of health into education and training will prepare the workforce to adjust clinical practice, define appropriate public health programmes and leverage cross-sector policies and mechanisms being put in place to address climate change. Educators should guide health and social workforce learners using competency-based approaches to explore critical pathways of social determinants of health, and what measurements and interventions may apply according to the structural and intermediary determinants of health and health equity. Key institutional and instructional reforms by decision-makers are also needed to ensure that the progressive integration and strengthening of education and training on the social determinants of health is delivered equitably, including by ensuring the leadership and participation of marginalized and minority groups. Training on the social determinants of health should apply broadly to three categories of health and social workforce learners, namely, those acting on global or national policies; those working in districts and communities; and those providing clinical services to individual families and patients.

The built environment and health: fostering interprofessional collaboration for better policy recommendations.

This paper describes the initiation and proceedings of a national consultation organized to appraise issues in the local built environment affecting public health, using an interprofessional and intersectoral approach. The consultation was hosted as a part of the onsite session of an international fellowship program in interprofessional education and practice, organized by the Manipal FAIMER Institute for Leadership in Interprofessional Education, India. One hundred and eight delegates from across academic disciplines including the health professions, management, public health, architecture, and engineering, participated in this event. Plenary lectures and case studies highlighted the theoretical basics of built environment. Participants were also introduced to fundamental parameters for evaluating health-related aspects of the built environment. Delegates were then grouped into 18 teams and assigned to visit predetermined locations which they appraised and provided recommendations for. These were then thematically coded and synthesized for communication to relevant local municipal authorities. The consultation scope was limited by involving only academics in the appraisal process, and next steps include the engagement of local citizens and policy-makers to ensure the implementation of recommendations. This event illustrates how engaging interprofessional stakeholders can facilitate knowledge-driven development for promoting health equity, through action on the social determinants of health.

Integrating the social determinants of health into two interprofessional courses: Findings from a pilot study.

Five colleges and universities in Upstate New York, United States, created the 'Route-90 Collaborative' to support faculty implementing the Institute of Medicine's (IOM) Framework for Educating Health Professionals to Address the Social Determinants of Health. The two courses described herein used a flipped classroom approach in which students from 14 different nations were responsible for facilitating individual classes. This descriptive study used an educational intervention in two interprofessional courses - reproductive health and global health - based on the IOM Framework into two courses. The evaluation used quantitative and open-ended text response data from students. Course evaluations indicated the students found the courses helped them to learn more about health issues and service delivery in various countries, expand their knowledge base on sociocultural and ecological influences on health care, and broaden their perspectives on various health topics so they will be able to provide higher quality healthcare. Although this is the first effort of our Collaborative to implement the Framework, given the student feedback, we believe implementing the Framework in various courses has the potential to enhance healthcare service delivery and reduce the negative impact of social determinants of health.