The National Center for Statistics and Information (NCSI) issued the first of the series 'Towards Achieving Sustainable Development Goals', which reviews the reality of realizing the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals of the Sultanate, where each of the 17 goals addresses the objectives.
This issue of the series reviews the third of the 17 goals of sustainable development aimed at addressing urgent global challenges over the next 15 years. The third goal, 'Ensuring healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages', including 13 targets, is measured by 27 indicators. The report states in the first objective of the third goal of Sustainable Development Goals 2030 related to the reduction of the global ratio of maternal mortality, that the Sultanate has achieved a significant reduction in the maternal mortality rate, which means the annual number of female deaths for any reason related to pregnancy or its management from 26.4 per 100,000 livebirth in 2010 to 13.4 per 100,000 livebirth in 2016. The report shows a significant increase in the percentage of births attended by skilled specialists, which reached 99.5% in 2016.
The second target is to put an end to infant mortality, which can be avoided. The report indicates that the under-five mortality rate in the Sultanate reached 11.7 births per thousand population during 2016. With regard to the infant mortality rate, which means the possibility of death of the child in the first 28 days of age, the report shows that in 2016, the rate was 9.3 births per thousand live births. In the third objective, including end to AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, neglected tropical diseases, control of hepatitis and other infectious diseases, the report states that the rate of new HIV infections in the Sultanate was 5.6 per 100,000 non-infected (for Omanis only) in 2016. As a result of efforts by the Ministry of Health to reduce the incidence of tuberculosis, while the rate was 11 per 100,000 people in 2010, it fell to 8 per 100,000 people in 2016. The rate of malaria infections in the Sultanate has dropped from 43 cases per 100,000 people in 2010 to 18 per 100,000 people in 2016. The number of people infected with hepatitis B is 0.29 cases per 100,000 people in 2016.
The report also reviews the fourth target of reducing premature deaths from non-communicable diseases, including a decrease in the mortality rate due to cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases among people between the ages of 30 and 70 years to 126 per 100,000 citizens in 2010 to 97.3 per 100,000 citizens in 2015. Suicide is rare in the Sultanate, with 1.3 people per million Omani people in 2015. In the sixth target, which includes reducing the number of deaths and injuries resulting from traffic accidents, the report says that the efforts exerted by the Royal Oman Police and the cooperation of various government agencies contributed significantly to the reduction of mortality rate from traffic accidents between 2010 and 2016 to 47%.
The report also addresses the seventh target of ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health care services. The proportion of women of childbearing age (15-45 years) who currently use modern methods of birth spacing reached 18.8% in 2014. The use of traditional and modern spacing methods together reached 29.7%. The report shows that the rate of births among adolescent girls aged 15 to 19 years in the Sultanate was 13.5 per thousand adolescent girls in 2016. The goal of significantly reducing the number of deaths and diseases due to exposure to hazardous chemicals and air and water pollution was that the mortality rate from domestic and ambient air pollution had declined in the Sultanate from 13.7 per 100,000 people in 2010 to 9.4 per 100,000 people in 2015 for Omanis only. The mortality rate attributable to unsafe water and unsafe sewage in the Sultanate decreased from 0.29 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2010 to 0.4 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2010 (for Omanis).
In the indicator of mortality attributable to unintentional poisoning, the data indicate that there is a discrepancy between the mortality rates attributed to unintentional poisoning, as there were no cases in 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2015, meaning that the rate was zero. While in 2011 and 2013 the rate was 0.05 and 0.09 per 100,000 citizens, respectively. The report states that in 2010 the Ministry of Commerce and Industry issued Ministerial Decision No. 39/2001 setting the age limit for the purchase of tobacco products at 18 or more and prohibits the sale of tobacco products to under-age youngsters. As for the support index for research and development in the field of vaccines, medicines and infectious diseases, and access to affordable basic medicines and vaccines, the report notes that the Ministry of Health provides vaccines at the national level, especially children, covering 100% of the population since 2010.