The Ministry of Health (MOH) launched today (Sunday) the National Policy and Multisectoral Plan for Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) at the Sheraton Hotel Muscat.

The launching ceremony held under the patronage of His Highness Sayyid Shihab bin Tariq bin Taimour AL-Said, Advisor to His Majesty the Sultan in the presence of H.E. Dr. Tedros Adhanom, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) and H.E. Dr. Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Saidi, Minister of Health along with a number of their highnesses and excellences.

The national plan aims at reducing the premature deaths resulting from the noncommunicable diseases by 25% by the year 2025, and contains eight chapters addressing the various aspects of prevention and control the noncommunicable diseases in the Sultanate.   

It focuses on combating four main diseases; the cardiovascular diseases, cancer, respiratory diseases and diabetes. In addition, the plan addresses the main risk factors including lack of physical activity, unhealthy diet and smoking, as well as it will focus on the awareness and media aspects. All relevant sectors were involved in developing this plan, which was revised by the WHO team and has been translated into English.

the Minister of Health pointed out in the health sector speech that this ceremony is a crowning for the collective work which lasted for nearly two years involving all health relevant sectors and a number of national and international partners. This work has yielded a cleared national policy, which subsequently developed into a comprehensive national plan to address the priorities and challenges of the health system in the Sultanate.

He also added that, the Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) are the real risk and one of the biggest challenges to the development in the twenty-first century. They represent the major cause of morbidity and mortality global wise. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), these diseases kill 38 million people annually; half of them are under the age of seventy. The cardiovascular diseases are the main cause of most deaths resulting from the NCDs, which causes 17.5 million deaths every year, followed by the cancers (8.2 million deaths), then the respiratory diseases (4 million deaths) and diabetes (1.5 million deaths). In the Sultanate, 72.9% of deaths are approximately attributed to the Non-Communicable Diseases, of which 24.3% are due to the cardiovascular diseases and hypertension, 7% due to the cancers, and 2.2% due to the diabetes according to statistics in 2016.

The health minister also pointed out that the Ministry is pursuing to strengthening the participation of all related sectors, and in accordance to the recommendations of the Council of Ministers in this regard, a ministerial decision has been issued in 2015 on formulation of a National Committee for Non-communicable Diseases headed by the MOH Undersecretary for Planning Affairs. The Committee includes membership of a number of related ministries, such as the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Ministry of Regional Municipalities & Water Resources, Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries, Ministry of Environment & Climate Affairs, Ministry of Sports Affairs, Ministry of Information, Ministry of Education and Supreme Council for Planning. In addition to several civil associations and international organizations like the Oman Cancer Association, Oman Medical Association, Oman Tobacco Control Association, the WHO, the UNICEF and other health sectors in the Sultanate. The National Committee aims at enhancing and unifying all the efforts of the government and private sector, as well as the community civil associations in noncommunicable diseases prevention and control.

The WHO Director-General pointed out that Oman has witnessed a dramatic transition in the burden of disease. Noncommunicable diseases are now the leading cause of premature mortality in this country. More than half of all Omanis are now overweight or obese. One in 4 Omani adults have high blood pressure.The prevalence of diabetes has increased by almost 50% since 1991. This is not only devastating from a human point of view. It also has a devastating economic impact, both in terms of the costs of treating people with long-term illnesses, and in terms of lost productivity.

He also added that Noncommunicable diseases account for 7 of the top 10 causes of death globally, and are responsible for 70% of all deaths worldwide. Every year, NCDs kill 15 million people in the prime of life, between the ages of 30 and 70. The tragedy is that much of this suffering is totally preventable, and we know what the answers are, stop tobacco use, reduce salt intake, consume less sugar, eliminate industrial trans-fats and treat more people for high blood pressure.

The launching ceremony included two sessions with participation of number of government sectors. The sessions discussed the role of the various sectors in implementing the plan, as well as the impacts of increasing the noncommunicable diseases in each sector.     

A video on the importance of the national policy and sectorial plan was displayed during the launching ceremony. In which it showed the efforts of the National Committee, reviewing the achievements of the Ministry, as well as the six strategies of the national policy.

After that, His Highness launched the National Policy & Multisectoral Plan for Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases and toured the accompanying exhibition, in which it highlighted on the important role of the committees and civil associations that enhance the efforts of the health programs and services provided for the community.