Caries Free Communities Initiative

The Caries Free Communities Initiative (CFCI) is an eight year plan that represents a widely sustained effort to combat the great burden of caries throughout the Americas. The principal goal of the strategy is to reduce the burden of oral disease by the year 2015 by reducing the number of infections and increasing the coverage of services in the most vulnerable populations in the ‘Region of the Americas’. Vulnerable populations are identified as low socio-economic groups such as marginalized and geographically isolated populations, women, children, and people infected with AIDS.

Latin American and Caribbean Reports:

• Belize, Velize 20 - 22 April, 2010 (649.66 kB)
• Colombia, Política Publica de Salud Oral del Municipio de Ibagué, Alcaldia de Ibagué, Secretaria de Salud Municipal (13.46 MB) (In Spanish)
• Ibarra, Ecuador 27 - 29, January, 2010 (In Spanish)
• Saint Kitts & Nevis 2 - 4 December, 2009
• Panama, Panama , 28-30 June 2009 (10.02 MB) (In Spanish)
• Mexico, D.F., Mexico 23-25 April, 2009   

PAHO activities:

• Workshop “Train the trainer”
• Are you interested in participating in CFCI?     

Links:

• FDI Global Caries Initiative

G O A L S :  

• Goal #1: Ensure a degree of access of essential and basic oral health for all through opportunities directed towards the ‘care and treatment’ of the most vulnerable groups.  
• Goal #2:Integrate the oral health component in the services of Primary Health Care (PHC).
• Goal #3: Increase verified Cost-Effective interventions: plan of several years of fluoridation programs in the Americas and expansion of coverage in oral health with simple technologies.

A C T I O N    P L A N :

• Phase I: Form partnerships with the public and private sectors that support the initiative and ensure their sustainability by identifying the most vulnerable communities in every country.   
• Phase II: Oral health interventions implemented to reduce caries by 80% among targeted communities by the year 2014.   
• Phase III: Empowering the national and local health authorities, members of the academic community and local associations, and the organization of educational activities for oral health promotion. Training of oral health professionals throughout the Region, measuring the progress, and disseminating the results.   

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