The risks of poor nutrition

As much as 67 per cent of the national adult population is reported to have poor dietary habits and are either overweight and obese, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) nutrition survey.

Out of the 67 per cent, nearly 30 per cent of the population, mostly women, have a BMI of more than 30, which shows a rise in the cases of obesity in Oman when compared to the last survey in 2008. However, some of the GCC countries are far ahead of Omani in the global statistics.

The survey developed by the WHO in partnership with the Ministry of Health’s and Al Jisr Foundation addresses the dietary community’s awareness and knowledge in Oman with a specific focus on salt, sugar and trans-fat consumption.

Oman launched its 2023 national nutrition-related knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) survey for people between 14 and 60 years old aimed at designing baseline quantitative data on KAP related to sugar, salt and trans-fat and look into the relationships between those variables and socio-demographic parameters under the auspices of Dr Said al Lamki, Under-Secretary of Health Affairs with the attendance of Dr Jean Jabbour, and national stakeholders and called for collective national efforts towards better nutritional health.

“Nutrition and dietetics knowledge is an integral part of health knowledge, whereby poor health outcomes are related to low health literacy,” said Dr Jean Jabbour, the WHO Representative in Oman.

“We are continuously trying to improve health and to provide common platforms for working together. Hence, partnerships, networks and initiatives are key factors to boost the ability to effectively educate and create awareness,” he said, adding, “playing its role of coordinating and supporting the health priorities and needs following the thirteenth General Programme of Work (GPW 13), WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) Vision 2023, and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).”

Oman’s earlier national Non-Communicable Diseases Survey (NCD survey) conducted in 2017 had also revealed that 67 per cent of the national adult population reported poor dietary habits and there is a prevalence of overweight and obesity. The survey also showed an increasing percentage of malnutrition related NCDs such as cholesterol by 37 per cent and diabetes by almost 16 per cent. In addition, there is an increase in obesity and weight gain among children and adolescents in the country.

Globally, NCDs cause 74 per cent of deaths each year and will burden health systems and communities significantly if efforts to encourage sports and other forms of physical activity among their populations do not improve. Increases in NCDs are projected to result in an estimated $47 trillion loss to the global economy between 2010-2030.

WHO compared the situation in Oman to that in the Eastern Mediterranean region, where approximately 49 per cent of adults are overweight or obese, with higher rates among women (53 per cent), compared to men (more than 45 per cent), and more than two in five deaths (45 per cent) are attributed to cardiovascular diseases. Because of the significance of nutrition and its impact on people’s lives, WHO developed the Nutrition Strategy 2020-2030, with the goal of eliminating all forms of malnutrition and improving nutrition throughout the life course by 2030.

Following the launch, a 5-day training for 44 healthcare trainers from across the Sultanate is being held to teach them how to collect data from the four required questionnaires in the PHCs, taking all ethical considerations into account. 5,623 participants will be invited to fill out the four different forms.