The Regional Secretary for Health highlighted in Horta the success of the investment made in the promotion of oral health due to its scope and effects it had on children and young people in the Azores.
 
"In the assessment of the Regional Health Plan 2014-2016, we have determined that the regional oral health programme, created in 2002, is effectively a successful programme," said Rui Luís. According to him, "it provided 118 thousand consultations at health centres and hospitals."
 
Rui Luís spoke at the end of an awareness campaign held at Flamengos Basic Education School, emphasising the importance of good oral hygiene associated with good nutrition.
 
This activity is part of the celebrations of the World Oral Health Day. It took place at 10 public schools in the municipality of Horta, involving the distribution of 250 oral hygiene kits to children between the ages of three and five.
 
In this regard, the Secretary for Health reminded that the oral health programme is an initiative that "entails a constant investment in dissemination actions, like the one we are developing in this and other schools."
 
The Azores are the only region in the country that has a free oral health programme that covers young people through adulthood, through the provision of care at health centres. It has been designated Area of Intervention in Oral Health Promotion.
 
The good results in the access of children, elderly and pregnant women have allowed us to extend this programme to chronically ill patients and needy people.
 
The 3rd National Study on the Prevalence of Oral Diseases reveals that the percentage of caries-free Azorean children up to six years of age is at 75%, being the best at national level.