Oman beating NCDs at the souk, the restaurant and the bakery doors
The case for change
Targeting risk factors like diet and tobacco that are closely related to cancers, heart disease and stroke, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases is vital in Oman.
More than 50% of Omani men and women are overweight or obese, more than 40% have hypertension, and 12% have been diagnosed with diabetes. One in five Omanis die before their 70th birthday, most from largely preventable cardiovascular diseases.
Like many other countries in WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Region, the estimated average intake of salt consumption for people in Oman is close to 10 grams per person per day. This is double WHO recommendations.
This is why the United Nations Interagency Taskforce on NCDS (UNIATF) and the WHO GCM/NCD Integrated Country Support team work in strong collaboration with Oman to ensure factors like salt reduction can be implemented from end-to-end, starting with monitoring and surveillance of population-wide salt consumption.
Achieving results
Since 2015, Oman has been successful in achieving a 10% reduction of salt content in bread items within main bakeries. In 2016, this initiative established a more ambitious objective of 20% salt reduction in breads and broadened its focus to cheese as well.
Oman’s Ministry of Health has also established a national monitoring team to control the progress in salt and fat reduction in Omani food products.
It is hoped that this will help establish a base-line measure of salt consumption in the population, usually measured from a 24 hour urine sample, so that progress can be tracked and more easily linked to changes in health outcomes.
To ensure these measures reach Oman’s youth, the government has incorporated health education in all school curriculums. This recognizes that youth can act as powerful agents of change but also benefit greatly from health promotion messages.
A further proposal for reducing saturated fat, especially palm oil, in Omani foods is being considered by the government.
Giving everyone a seat at the table
Continued success in Oman in the fight against NCDs will depend on strong leadership and a cross-sectoral approach including all levels of society, authorities state. It will also require patience and support to ensure scale-up from pilot projects can happen at the right pace.
"It’s encouraging to see such genuine commitment from the food and beverage industry in Oman to try to work towards making a change for the betterment of health," says Dr Asmus Hammerich, director of NCDs in WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office.
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