Guinea's only public dental school is inviting you to an online press conference to mark the landmark grand opening of its dental clinic that is set to have a transformational impact on the nation and dental care across West Africa.

The dental school, Université Gamal Abdel Nasser de Conakry (UGANC), is due to have the grand opening of its state-of-the-art training facility on Weds 25th September. This expansion, a collaboration with international NGO Mercy Ships, will more than double the capacity for dental students to learn, practice, and treat patients, while addressing the critical gap in accessing dental care.

We would love you to give you opportunity to be in an online press conference to see it for yourself.

Guinea, a West African nation with a population of approximately 13.86 million according to 2022 World Bank data, has faced significant dental healthcare challenges for decades. In 2019, the country's total expenditure on dental healthcare was just $3.2 million, while the economic losses due to oral diseases reached a staggering $27 million. In 2019, the WHO Africa region averaged just 3.3 dentists per 100,000 people—a figure that's about one-tenth of the global ratio.

To announce this initiative and its anticipated impact on Guinea and the West African sub-region, Mercy Ships will host an online press conference on September 25, 2024, at 12:30 PM GMT. The event will also highlight the involvement of aspiring dentists from neighbouring countries currently enrolled in the university's dentistry program.

Kindly register here for the online press conference:  https://apo-opa.com/gamal-dental-clinic-en/