Awareness workshop for health educators on NCDS organised

MUSCAT: A workshop on raising awareness on non-communicable diseases (NCDS) for the health educators and nutritionists began on Tuesday at the Oman Medical College.

The three-day workshop is organised by the Directorate-general of Primary Health Care (DGPHC) in the Ministry of Health (MOH), represented by the Department of Health Education and Awareness Programmes under the patronage of Dr Ali bin Talib al Hinai, MOH Under-secretary for Planning Affairs.

A number of health educators from various health institutions in the Sultanate, as well as the nutritionists in primary health centres and hospitals are attending the workshop.

The workshop aims at enhancing the skills of the health educators and nutritionists, identifying the role of the health promotion in prevention of non-communicable diseases, acquiring communication skills and providing the appropriate counselling for the patient.

Dr Said al Lamki, DGPHC Director-general, provided an overview on the National Policy and Multisectoral Plan for Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases (NCDS), which was launched in February this year.

He pointed out that the policy aimed at reducing the number of premature deaths resulting from the non-communicable diseases by 25 per cent by the year 2025.

He also added that it was focusing on combating four main diseases namely cardiovascular diseases, cancers, respiratory diseases and diabetes, as well as addressing the main risk factors including lack of physical activity, unhealthy diet and smoking, raising awareness and media aspects.

Dr Ameera al Ridan, Director of Health Education and Awareness Programmes, touched on the role of the health educators in activating the National Policy.

The workshop also included launching the competition of the Big Winner of the health workers in the primary healthcare centres.

The workshop will also discuss several related issues during the next days, such as the role of the physical activity in NCDS prevention and treatment, the quality in providing the health education service, healthy diet to combat and treat NCDS, the current interventions for the treatment of obesity, effect of behavioural modifications in nutrition practices.