Integrating Oral Health into Primary Health Care: A Systematic Review of Oral Health Training in Sub-Saharan Africa

BACKGROUND: Globally, oral health training has shown positive influence on knowledge, competency and practices for both oral and non-oral health-care workers towards integration of oral health into primary health care (PHC). Sub-Saharan Africa has very divergent social-cultural-political-economic settings. Since healthcare is contextual, it is necessary to review oral health training programs in this region to establish if their formulation, implementation and evaluation are context-reliant. OBJECTIVE: To assess if oral health trainings aimed at integrating oral health into PHC in sub-Saharan Africa were context-reliant. METHODOLOGY: The reviewers searched five electronic databases and WHO sites. Selection of publications was done using the PRISMA framework. Oral health training programs for oral and non-oral health-care workers in sub-Saharan Africa published in English language between year 2001 and 2020 were included in the study. FINDINGS: Only 4 (0.8%) of the original 512 publications for oral health-care workers and 9 (1.5%) of the 613 for non-oral health-care workers publications met the inclusion criteria. Countries established and/or increased number of dental schools, 1 university adopted competency-based curriculum and 2 introduced community rotations. Dental auxiliaries varied by cadre, training duration and scope of practice. Non-oral health-care workers training programs used diverse approaches like pre-service, workshops and printed materials. Target groups for the trainings varied from nurses, traditional healers, health promotion officers to community health volunteers. Evaluations were done mainly using pre-post or quasi-experimental studies. Outcomes of interest varied from level of knowledge, services provision, early childhood caries, oral health seeking behavior and oral hygiene practices. CONCLUSION: Oral health training for integration of oral health into PHC in sub-Saharan Africa varied by targeted cadre, training methods and evaluation method and scope. It was thus context-reliant. More programs are necessary to accommodate other training approaches, evaluation methods and other health-care cadres in the region.