About Us - Oral Health Initiative

OUR STORY

This isn’t just an evidence gap — it’s a structural one

The Oral Health Initiative (OHI) is a multidisciplinary research programme based at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), running from 2023 to date. OHI grew out of a grant titled “Translational Research for Integrated Oral and General Healthcare Delivery for Children, Adolescents and Adults in Nigeria: NIMR HIV Clinic as Pilot Project” (Grant Number: NM-ADJGT-22-0082), awarded by the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research.

Our mandate is to generate evidence for integrating oral and general healthcare in a way that aligns with Nigeria’s 2016 National Health Policy and UN Sustainable Development Goal 3.4. The initiative’s pilot sites are NIMR and Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), with the NIMR HIV Clinic serving as the pilot setting for integrated screening and referral work.

Our founding team. OHI was formed by 15 multidisciplinary experts drawn from Nigeria, Egypt, the UK, and the USA. The core team comprises:

Morenike Folayan — Principal Investigator
Oliver Ezechi — Co-Principal Investigator
Francisca Nwaokorie, Maha El Tantawi, Jo Lusher — Members
Folahanmi (Fola) Akinsolu — Member and Project Manager
George Eleje, Omolola Alade, Ucheoma Nwaozuru, Chisom Obiezu-Umeh — Members
Titi Gbajabiamila, Abideen Salako, Juliet Iwelunmor, Qudus Lawal, Ifeoma Idigbe — Members

Our Mission

To systematically increase the quantity and quality of transdisciplinary and translational oral health research in Nigeria and across Africa — generating evidence that informs integrated healthcare delivery, clinical protocols, and policy.

Our Vision

A Nigeria — and an Africa — where oral health is fully integrated into primary healthcare, systemic disease management, and national health policy, backed by a robust, homegrown, and self-sustaining research evidence base.

WHY CHOOSE US

The Problem We Address

No National Prevalence Data

There is NO date for dental caries or periodontal disease in Nigeria

Fragmented evidence

Fragmented evidence, inconsistent methodologies, and small, localized studies.

Missing Links

Missing links between oral disease and systemic NCDs and pregnancy outcomes.

Discipline Silos

Oral health research is rarely conducted alongside internal medicine, infectious disease, health informatics, or implementation science.

Almost no translational research

Evidence from reviews and studies rarely reaches clinical protocols, health systems, or policy.

Policy without infrastructure

Nigeria's 2016 National Health Policy calls for integrated healthcare delivery, and UN SDG 3.4 targets a one-third reduction in premature NCD mortality — but neither can be realized without implementation research and integration at the point of care.

EMR blind Spots

Most Nigerian health facilities' electronic medical records don't capture oral health indicators, making surveillance and integrated care tracking nearly impossible.

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Years of Experience

OUR STORY
OHI began as the founding initiative of a translational research grant: “Translational Research for the Integrated Delivery of Oral and General Healthcare to Children, Adolescents and Adults in Nigeria: NIMR MLHV Clinic As a Pilot Site” (Grant No. NM-ADJGT-22-0082). What started as a single grant’s mandate has grown into a self-sustaining, Africa-wide research and mentorship network.

Oral Health Initiative (OHI)

Our Approach

OHI operates as both an evidence-generating platform and a transdisciplinary research training network, built on three components we believe are replicable anywhere:

Research output as the measure of capacity building

We don't count boot camp attendance as success — we count published work, because publication is the evidence that learning and mentorship actually occurred.

Cross-disciplinary recruitment

We deliberately train non-dentists — public health specialists, nurses, biostatisticians, computer scientists, biochemists, and others — to lead oral health research, widening the workforce far beyond Africa's small pool of dentists

The Cascading Mentorship Model

Trained mentees become mentors, reducing our dependence on the original core team while expanding our reach across the continent.

OHI - Alignment

Alignment with National and Global Policy

OHI’s work is directly aligned with:

Nigeria’s National Health Policy (2016), which calls for integrated healthcare delivery across disease categories.
UN Sustainable Development Goal 3.4, which targets a one-third reduction in premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention, treatment, and integrated care.

OHI - Oral Health Initiative

Timeline

2023 — OHI founded at NIMR; Cohort 1 launched (9 fellows, 6-day in-person boot camp).
2024 — Cohort 2 launched (5 fellows, all non-dentists, 6-day in-person boot camp).
2025 — Cohort 3 launched (10 fellows, first cohort with a non-Nigerian African participant; online boot camp).
2026 — Cohort 4 launched using the new Cascading Mentorship Model; 7 former mentees become mentors, recruiting their own mentees and initiating 60 new studies.