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This study was carried out to assess the factors and perception of various stakeholders on integration of oral health into the national health schemes using mixed method research design. Oral diseases are among the most prevalent diseases of humanity. This notion echoes the global situation, where, despite a significant disease burden, oral diseases are neglected and there is lack of implementation of programmes and policies for it. Resources for health are scarce and the oral health sector does not have a separate budget allocation. Commonly, patients pay out of their pockets to receive treatment from both public and private dentists. Also, there is a need for training of various stakeholders including dental auxiliaries such as oral hygienists and dental lab technicians, no successive efforts are made. There is a lack of public health planners and managers with (dental) public health training at administration and management level, leading to a void in terms of technical support in terms of integrated population-wide policies that can address oral diseases. Hence, there is a need of a comprehensive oral health policy and integration with existing National Health Policy and programmes. A mixed method study design was adopted. In first phase quantitative data were collected from various stakeholders which explored their knowledge, attitude regarding oral health, oral hygiene practices, barriers in integration oral health in national health schemes. In second phase, qualitative data were collected using Focused Group Discussion where participants provided an insight on integration of oral health into the national health schemes. |
