On the sidelines of a recent conference on public oral health, TOBA ADEDEJI spoke with the Dean, Faculty of Dentistry, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Prof. Morenike Ukpong, speaks on issues related to public health and awareness.
WITH the new possibilities that COVID-19 has opened to medicine, especially the design of vaccine to mitigate the spread of the virus, do you think there is also the possibility of developing preventive vaccine for HIV?
Unlike COVID-19, we have been working on the possibility of an HIV vaccine for ages. I think COVID opened the door for a mechanism that had not been used like it was used in COVID-19 to develop vaccines. So we have seen a lot of research going on, using that MRNA technology. Sooner than later, we would likely have an HIV vaccine. There are two types of vaccine we are looking at: the preventive one and one which if you get HIV infection you would not progress faster to AIDS.
How soon do you think this can be achieved?
Nobody can say how soon it would be delivered. We can only believe it will be soon with the technologies that are now available.
What is impeding access to grants by scholars in Nigeria?
It is non-prioritization. In a nation that prioritises security, they put all the money there. If you understand that development happens through research, then you prioritise it. You won’t get the grant if the country doesn’t prioritise research. Look at what is happening in the education sector. So, how would they prioritise reserch with the energy on education you are seeing? You won’t get grants until government prioritises research.
But I must tell you that I am aware that the National Health Research Committee is working towards that. We also have TETfund grant and people are advocating for it.
With the rising phenomenon of sexual harassment in schools, would it be appropriate for female students to underperform to avoid being sexual harassed?
I think that would be a crime against oneself. Why would you do that when you know that your performance and your transcript is your future? Every institution has systems that can support, but like you know, many people don’t use these systems. You need to get screened in rather than screened out for you to show that you have a potential.
Is poor nutrition one of the factors responsible for rampant cases of bad dentition these days?
I will fault our poor attitude to public education, because the system can educate parents to know, identify and prevent it. The system that allows public education on many health issues is poorly coordinated and poorly implemented.
What do you think that dentists can do about issues related to adulterated toothpastes?
This issue has to be address by regulators and those that provide oversight on products that go into the market. I look forward to a future where trained dentists and entrepreneurs address this gap in our market.
Would you advocate entrepreneurship training for undergraduates on production of toothpaste?
The dental curriculum now includes training undergraduate dentists as entrepreneurs. This is because of the recognised need to build the competency of dentists to practice beyond the borders of public health institutions. We are seeing the impact of this already as we see a lot more trained dentists having start ups. It has already started and can only grow bigger and better.
Do you think government should take the issue of dental health as serious as HIV/AIDS, cancer, tuberculosis and other diseases?
Yes. Oral health problems affect a lot of people globally more than those diseases combined. However, it is less associated with death and there is very poor public discourse on oral diseases as an epidemic of public health concern. We can do more and should do more on this.
There is a need to address a lot more of indigenous issues including herbal remedies. A conversation about this has started. In addition, we had a conversation in my unit on the need to improve public education. Programmes like this stimulate spiral changes, many of which we may not be able to account for. I however think we are building on successful past and rolling into a bright future through the cumulative work of every one in the oral health industry. What you are doing is one of the most brilliant outcomes of this conference- raising public awareness.