The Kenya Dental Association is delighted to share that a pedagogy review by Kenyan authors has been published in Frontiers in Oral Health, setting out why climate change and environmental sustainability can no longer be separated from dental education and training.
The paper, “Embedding planetary health and sustainability in dental education: a community-engaged training model from Kenya,” was authored by Dr. James Johnstone Nyachio, with co-authors and significant mentors Dr. Gladys Mwango Akama and Dr. Ochiba Lukandu. Special thanks go to Prof. Julian Fisher, Director of Oral and Planetary Health Policies at the University of Pennsylvania. Together they propose a community-engaged model from Kenya that links planetary health with oral health training.
The proposed framework
The framework centres on four areas:
- Curriculum reform
- Community-based learning through Community-Based Education and Service (COBES)
- Sustainable clinical practice
- Interdisciplinary collaboration
It argues that Kenya’s experience can provide a practical pathway for developing a more prevention-focused, resilient and environmentally responsible oral health workforce — with lessons that could extend across other low- and middle-income countries.
The paper is open access and was published on 4 September 2026. Read it in full: Embedding planetary health and sustainability in dental education: a community-engaged training model from Kenya (Frontiers in Oral Health, doi 10.3389/froh.2026.1878019).
Congratulations to the authors on this contribution to the global conversation on oral health and planetary health.