The African Regional Centers of the Basel and Stockholm Convention supported the Children’s Amendment of the Minamata Convention by organising webinars in cooperation with the World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry. The Children’s Amendments entered into force on 28 September 2023 and requires Parties to the Minamata Convention to take action to protect Children from the use of dental amalgam:
Parties shall exclude or not allow, by taking measures as appropriate, or recommend against the use of dental amalgam for the dental treatment of deciduous teeth, of patients under 15 years and of pregnant and breastfeeding women, except when considered necessary by the dental practitioner based on the needs of the patient.
But until today only about 50% of the Parties to the Minamata Convention comply with this regulation, and in the African Region only 7 out of 43 Parties served by the regional centers, had implemented the mandatory requirement almost two years after the entering into force. https://environmentalmedicine.eu/tracker-implementation-of-the-childrens-amendment/
The anglophone Webinar organised by the African Institute took place on 8 April and called on parties to take action. Here is the list of speakers:
Program Anglophone Webinar supporting the Children’s Amendment on April 8, 2025
Below you will find the recording and the presentations:
Eisaku Toda, Secretariat of the Minamata Convention
Gabriela Sardon, WHO Oral Health Programme
Dr. Gilbert KUEPOUO, African Centre for Environmental Health/CREPD, Yaounde, Cameroon
Professor Godwin T. Arotiba (Nigeria), Dentists for a Mercury-Free Africa
Florian Schulze, European Network for Environmental Medicine
The francophone Webinar organised by the Centre régional des Conventions de Bâle et de Stockholm pour les pays d’Afrique francophone took place on 22 May.
Program Francophone Webinar supporting the Children’s Amendment on May 22, 2025
Below you will find the recording and the presentations:
Eisaku Toda, Secretariat of the Minamata Convention
Dr. Gilbert KUEPOUO, Centre Africain pour la Santé Environnementale /CREPD, Yaoundé, Cameroun
Wondwossen Sintayehu (Ethiopie)
Florian Schulze, European Network for Environmental Medicine
Further Information:
