Mapping the Public Health and Health Promotion Capacity in Oman

Abstract Background An essential condition to enabling people to increase control over their health is to have sufficient capacity for public health (PH) and health promotion (HP). Despite the recognition of its importance, a comprehensive view of the PH and HP capacity in the sultanate of Oman is not yet available. This study provides a mapping of the country’s PH and HP capacity at national, governorate and district levels. Methods An online quantitative survey was performed amongst 70 health policy maker and experts in PH and HP using a questionnaire based on the PH capacity framework of Aluttis et al., yielding data on the country specific context with relevance for PH and 6 PH capacity domains, each divided in subdomains: leadership and governance; organizational structures, workforce, financial resources, partnerships, and knowledge development. Internal consistencies of the scales measuring the capacity subdomains ranged from .75 to .99. Results The survey revealed relatively low scores, representing partial development of capacities, for most of the public health capacity domains. The highest levels of capacity were observed for knowledge development (health information and monitoring systems, reporting systems and knowledge infrastructure), organizational structures (institutional capacity, program delivery structures, PH within health services, and response emergencies) and partnerships (formal consortia, informal partnerships and multisectoral coordination). In contrast, leadership and governance, workforce development, and financial resources score lower. Conclusions Mapping the strengths and weaknesses of PH and HP capacity in Oman allows to make recommendations for improving population health. Whereas all domains of PH and HP capacity are partially developed, there is a need to further improve capacity in all domains. Key messages • PH and HP capacities are partially developed in Oman. • Mapping the PH and HP capacity allows to identify strengths and weaknesses and make recommendations for improving public health.