Priority populations

The goal of Australia's National Oral Health Plan 2015–2024 (NOHP) is ‘to improve health and wellbeing across the Australian population by improving oral health status and reducing the burden of poor oral health’ (CoAG 2015).

The NOHP outlines guiding principles that underpin Australia’s oral health system and provides national strategic direction including targeted strategies in six foundation areas and across four priority populations.

The priority populations highlight the groups that experience the most significant barriers to accessing oral health care and the greatest burden of oral disease (Table 1).

Table 1: Australia’s National Oral Health Plan 2015–2024 priority populations
Priority populations
  1. People who are socially disadvantaged or on low incomes
  1. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
  1. People living in regional and remote Australia
  1. People with additional and/or specialised health care needs

References

CoAG (Council of Australian Governments) Health Council 2015. Healthy mouths, healthy lives: Australia’s National Oral Health Plan 2015–2024. Adelaide: South Australian Dental Service.