The day was a huge success with over 60 participants attending, with a broad range of expertise including research, clinical practice, community development, policy, and health promotion. Participants came from across Victoria, along with representatives from Tasmania, South Australia and the ACT to listen to a range of presentations and then debate ways to improve oral health at a population level.
The opening address from DHSV executive Deidre Mackechnie provided a DHSV perspective on a new way of improving oral health. This was followed with a keynote presentation given by international expert, Professor Laurence Moore (pictured) providing insight into developing strategies to promote population health intervention research, using the experience of the Public Health Improvement Research Network (PHIRN) in Wales. The day then shifted to a local perspective when Dr. Colin Sindall, Senior Advisor at the Department of Health in Victoria provided an overview of prevention in Victoria and the context for oral health. Professor Elizabeth Waters, Director of the Jack Brockhoff Child Health and Wellbeing program at the University of Melbourne then continued to develop the ideas of addressing oral health through solutions-focused research conducted in partnership between researchers, policy-makers, service providers and practitioners, with a focus on equity and sustainability.
A series of brief presentations were also delivered by those working at the grass roots.
The participants then contributed to informing the future direction of APHIRST-Oral Health through an interactive and stimulating ‘think tank’ session.
Download Think Tank Action Areas [PDF, 304KB] for further detail.