The Ministry of Health (MOH), represented by the Health Education & Awareness Programs Department celebrated on Thursday the closing ceremony the obesity control project "Biggest Winner" at Hormuz Grand Muscat Hotel under the patronage of H.E. Dr. Ali bin Talib Al-Hinai, MOH Undersecretary for Planning Affairs.

The idea of the competition came in support of activating the National Policy and the Multi-sectoral Plan of Action for the Control of Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases- NCD. It lasted for three months from the beginning of October until the end of December 2018, with the participation of 30 health institutions in the Sultanate of Oman and approximate of 700 health workers.

This Competition is the first of its kind, which targeted various health professionals in the Ministry of Health at the level of the primary, secondary and tertiary health institutions who suffer from overweight or obesity. It aimed to create the competitiveness among the health workers in order to achieve the healthy weight, raising the awareness level about obesity causes and risks, as well as encouraging the health workers to follow healthy habits and get rid of unhealthy ones to be a role model for their patients.  

Dr. Ameera Al-Ra'idan, Director of the Health Education & Awareness Programs Department announced in her speech the statistics of weight loss among the contestants. She also recommended to re-implement the competition by the participation of more MOH institutions and to be a model for other government sectors.

During the honoring ceremony, the winning teams that implemented the competition in their institutions have been announced, where Al-Wafi Health Center ranked in the first place, followed by Al-Burimi Health Center and Samial Hospital in the third place.

In addition, the winning health workers who achieved the highest rates of weight loss at the level of the Sultanate from the overweight and obesity categories have been honored.