Health Needs Assessment Report: Diabetic Patients in Oman

This report provides a comprehensive health needs assessment focusing on diabetic patients in Oman. It begins with an introduction to diabetes as a chronic and life-threatening disease, emphasizing the importance of diet control and healthcare interventions. The discussion covers the selection of diabetes mellitus as a general health issue in Oman, highlighting the roles of various stakeholders such as the Oman Diabetes Association, WHO, and government bodies. The report examines existing literature and the experiences of various organizations involved in diabetes management, including the IDF MENA Region and the International Diabetes Federation (Oman Diabetes Society). It also presents health-related data, including the epidemiology of diabetes in Oman, mortality and morbidity rates, and socio-cultural, economic, and health status indicators. The report analyzes the rising burden of diabetes in Oman, emphasizing the need for effective action plans to educate vulnerable groups and promote healthy lifestyles. Overall, the assessment underscores the importance of diet control, awareness programs, and healthcare regulations in managing diabetes in Oman.

Running Head: DIABETIC PATIENTS IN OMAN
DIABETIC PATIENTS IN OMAN
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

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Introduction
This is a paper on health needs assessment that will focus on diet control among diabetic
patients in Oman. Diabetes is considered a chronic lifestyle disease that is non-communicable
but extremely life threatening. It increases with time if not maintained through correct measures
and health interventions as it requires a low glycemic index diet (Al Balushi et al., 2014). Oman
has a number of cases with Diabetes mellitus, which is the reason for several healthcare
implementations taking place to reduce the effect of this disease. The major disease discussed
here will be Diabetes and its impact on the patients of Oman, and related projects designed and
implemented for this issue.
Discussion
Selection of General Health Issue
Oman has been fighting communicable and non-communicable diseases from the past few
years with the help of policy makers and several stakeholders who are ready to invest in such
projects. The chosen topic is diabetes mellitus and the organizational bodies who work together
for the welfare of the people in Oman in terms of this disease. Oman has a number of
stakeholders and investors who plan and implement laws and legislations for the welfare of
public health and the consequences of such diseases that includes Diabetes (Alyaarubi, 2011).
The perspective of the stakeholders favors the idea that action should be taken to decrease
or even eradicate the issue of diabetes in the people of Oman. The health care providers believe
that controlling diabetes is the root cause of controlling many kinds of illness that occurs due to
Diabetes. This shows the progress and effectiveness in people of Oman and the stakeholders as
well, which is beneficial for the public. As diabetes is an incurable disease it needs to be

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maintained through medical guidelines and medications that are necessary for it to be stabilized.
Numerous healthcare providers show their interest in this aspect as it requires them to be
sufficient and expert in the science of endocrinology. They believe that insulin and glucose
balance should be controlled so that they can manage the epidemic of this diseases through
awareness programs, laws and regulations (Kohli, 2016).
The organizations who are active in working against diabetes in Oman Diabetes
Association, Arabian Healthcare group, World Health Organization (WHO), the government
body of the Country and investment firms.
My intended project is to focus on the diet of people who have diabetes and the
healthcare regulations related to it should be maintained. Patients should be taught about the
lifestyle change in that is necessary for a healthy outcome and the maintenance of diabetes as this
disease is the root cause of several health complications that could be fatal for the wellbeing of
these people (Alghafri et al., 2017). The stakeholders who are involved in my intended project
have positive thoughts about the idea as they believe in the notion that can diet can control
certain diseases that needs to be monitored. The Oman Diabetes Association supports my
ideology as they have similar agendas about this issue. Several groups like that have shown keen
interest in my idea as they believe that a right diet can set it right. There are no few organizations
who oppose my intended project because they believe that with diet they also need medications
for treating diabetes. These stakeholders are organizations who are into pharmacology and they
manufacture medicines and insulin for diabetic patients such as Oman Pharmaceutical Company,
Taiba pharma group headquarter and Muscat Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Company. These
are the stakeholders who do not agree with my intended project and need people who will
support their agenda of promoting pharmacology (Jimmy et al., 2014). Most of these

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stakeholders have a clear idea about my intended project as it focuses on the people who require
assistance about caring for diabetes especially those who are not aware about the medical
complications of this disease.
Examine the Literature
My previous experiences has revealed that people need to know about the basics of this
disease as several notions are set about diabetes. Areas with low literacy rate are more vulnerable
to this diseases as they are not aware about maintaining a healthy lifestyle to prevent diabetes
and other lifestyle chronic diseases. The major cause of diabetes is physical inactivity and over
nutrition, and people with obesity and the tendency of being overweight has more chances of
suffering from diabetes. All these issues need a set of plans and targeted prevention so that
matters can be taken in consideration and measures can be taken for the benefit of the people
involved. The government sectors are actively being involved in Oman for the same issue as
people need to be prevented from the vulnerability of this disease (Majeed et al., 2014).
Encouraging people with an impressive amount of communication skills can be utilized for such
interventions and projects because people with a voice are required. The organizations like Oman
Diabetes Association experienced a similar approach during their actions because they
established rules and regulations for people with diabetes that will benefit them. It promotes a
healthy lifestyle with nutritious meals and regular physical activity that is required for patient
with diabetes (Al Shookri et al., 2011). They have also seen other organizations planning
awareness programs targeting a wider audience that includes people with all age groups as
diabetes is genetic and can also come from family. The overall experience by me and other
organizations have been positive with few negatives here and there.

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There have been a number of projects and communities that have been working for the
priority issue such as the IDF Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region and its members
are the representatives of 29 diabetes organizations in 21 countries and its territories. They have
several projects for the welfare of diabetic patients in Oman, which is a positive initiative for the
priority issue. Another organization named as International Diabetes Federation has their branch
known as Oman Diabetes Society, which is a nonprofit and non-government organization
working for increasing research and knowledge about this disease (Khan & Hamdy, 2017). It
was started by physicians and endocrinologists who were interested in knowing more about this
disease and the prevention techniques needed for diabetes, which is necessary for the growth of
public health in Oman. The main agenda of this organization is to cure diabetes in the Sultanate
of Oman with the help of new establishments that will help in increasing communication and
presence in the fields of healthcare and medical aid focusing on diabetes. More aims of this
organization is to become a reliable and valid source of information and resource for the medical
professionals working for diabetes including their families and the patients. It also focuses on
increasing their professional standards scientifically, so that they can enhance their seminars,
courses, training workshops and conferences that revolve around the health of diabetic patients
(Al Bimani, Khan & David, 2015). They have connections with the ministry of health, which is
utilized to take these initiative in a national and sometime on an international level. It also
collaborates with profit and nonprofit organizations who are linked to the government because
they make their won implementations that focuses on diabetic patients and their diet. Educating
diabetic patients about their health condition and the risk involved if they are not treated or given
the correct lifestyle recommendations for marinating the diabetes. It includes raising awareness
through media channels all over the country and getting help from social media about protecting

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people from the complication of this disease. Lastly, they work in coordination with several
national and international organizations who focus on the same agenda including various other
fields of diabetes (Al-Lawati, 2017).
The previous evaluation of the similar projects shows that diabetes has been prevailing in
Oman since a long time and an effective plan of action is required for educating the vulnerable
group, which is necessary to eradicate this issue. A huge number of social and economic factors
surfaced during this evaluation as it showed that the reason for the prevalence of this disease is
due to the lifestyle of the people and their dietary consumption. The unawareness due to
educational restrictions have been another reason for the increase in the rate of diabetes in the
population of Oman (Ogurtsova et al., 2017).
Similar types of projects have emerged in the past as this priority issue has been affecting
the wellbeing of the public health in Oman. The recommendations of new designs are still being
explored as most of them are similar because all those focuses on educating people about the
consequences of the disease and the action plan to maintain a healthy lifestyle. The Oman
Diabetes Association has been a role model for all the projects being conducted after that as they
have met all the requirements for conducting programs for the diabetic patients and their
wellbeing through proper diet.
Health Related Data
The epidemiology of this disease suggests that Oman has been the highest in the
prevalence of diabetes because one of the 19 countries of IDF MENA region has been Oman and
more than 367.700 cases of diabetes were found in Oman. The rate of 10.4% was increased to
21.1% in Oman, whereas, the rate of impaired fasting glucose in Oman was found in males with

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35.1% and women had a higher incidence rate of 2.7 cases from 2.3 cases per year in 1000
person. The rate of undiagnosed diabetes mellitus was also found, which was 33-68% in men and
27-53% in women. According to the estimation, Oman will have an increase of 350,000 people
with type 2 diabetes mellitus, which will be an increase of 174% compared to 2015 (Al-Lawati et
al., 2015). The mortality and the morbidity rate is shown above, which shows that Oman needs to
go through several changes to decrease the prevalence of diabetes as it is being under radar for
this chronic lifestyle disease. Diabetes is a rising burden in Oman, which is increasing with time
but with the help of these healthcare organizations it is becoming easier to communicate and
spread knowledge about the consequences of this epidemic like disease (Al Subhi et al., 2016).
Non communicable disease is common in Middle East including Oman as it has been affecting
the infants by altering the mortality and morbidity rates.
The health status indicators are divided into several sections such as socio-cultural,
economic and in the general health aspect. It is known that Oman is a developed country, which
has a considerable social, economic and political stability that is evident through the coordination
between the sultanate of Oman and the neighboring countries in the Middle East. The Omani
society has the influenced of Islam and the culture is focused on the same. This allows Muslim
women to be active and social in all the events related the society even though all religions are
tolerated, which makes them diverse (El-Aty et al., 2014). The country keeps investing on the
education of the people including the development of educational policies. It was a semi-literate
society before the renaissance period and after a span of 15 years, the literacy level increased to
80% from 50%. The sociocultural indicators are the literacy rate which is 78% in 2005, female
literacy of 70.6% in 2005, city population of 71.5% in 2005, human development index was
0.781% in 2005. The economic indicator was GDP per capita current US$ as 12,239 in 2005.

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The political aspect of Oman was governed by the Sultanate of Oman and their several ministries
and councils and now it is a modern state with an institute of democracy. The health status
indicators include life expectancy at birth which was 74.3% in 2005, infant mortality rate of
10.3% in 2005, maternal mortality rate of 15.4% and the percent of normal birth weight babies
was 91.7% in the same year (WHO, 2006).
Reviewing Existing Mandates
The existing mandates that have been implemented for the cure of diabetes and the
control in diet for the welfare of these patients needs to be reviewed to see if it the new project
design will fit. The government has been taking actions with the help of chronic disease
management for implementing mandates that have helped to increase the awareness about
diabetes. The chronic care model was utilized by the people as it helped in having a systematic
framework for the efficient action plan needed for the implementation of these education
programs. The public organizations have given several mandates with the inclusion of
legislations and regulations, policies and guidelines, professional standards, ethical guidelines,
and mandates of potential partners. The budget for this implementation is ideal for my intended
project because the stakeholders are considerate of the issue, which makes them give in more
resources than before. As the issue of diabetes in the public of Oman is spreading like fire, which
needs serious interventions (Alghafri et al., 2018).
PEEST
The political reasons that can affect my project will be the interference of the ministry of
health for changing the course of the program as they have a stronger hold than other

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stakeholders. They can influence me to alter the sections of the project according to their budget
and limitations. The economic aspect that will affect my project will be the limitation or the
financial constraints, which will occur due to the extravagance of the project. The economic
planning of the government is necessary to know about so that the budgeting of my project can
be done accordingly (da Rocha Fernandes et al., 2016). The environmental and social factor that
will restrict my project will the issue of the cultural backgrounds of the people who will called
for the awareness program as some societies obstruct the social activities and intermingling of
different people due to narrow mindedness. These factors can seriously affect the outcome of my
project, which should be taken care of without the interference of other stakeholders in the
unnecessary places.
Possible features of Project Design
The most necessary aspect of any project is the reliability and validity, which is
influenced by the structure of the project and it should be considered in any type of design. The
effective outcome is the main priority of any design and result of this outcome is the deciding
factor of the success of the project plan. The population of the program will include people
above the age of 30 as they are most vulnerable to physical inactivity and unhealthy dietary
consumption due to work stress (Alrahbi, 2014). The activities will include teaching sessions by
the physicians and endocrinologist to the people who will attending the programs and they will
be assisted by health professionals such as nurses. The timeline of this program will be a month
because all this process will take time and the awareness program will not be stretched for long
as it will dilute the topic of the hour.

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Enabling and limiting factors
After analyzing all the aspects, the factors that will help my project will be the support
and influence of other healthcare organizations who will guide me as a stakeholder. Oman has
several bodies of functional chains that supports in the development of public health (Ali &
Ahmad, 2014).
The barriers in this project will be the cultural or the educational restriction of the local
residents of the country. Many people are not open to the idea of coming to educational
programs that are implemented by the government or other stakeholders due to cultural
restrictions or low literacy rate. The turnover of the program might be a demotivating factor.

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practices of Omani patients. Saudi Pharmaceutical Journal, 23(1), 22-27.
Al Subhi, L., Kendall, P., Al-Shafaee, M., & Al-Adawi, S. (2016). Health beliefs of people with
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