EDUCATION:

University of Jordan; Amman-Jordan

Bachelor in science

1986-1990

Major in Chemistry College of science 

 Cornell University; Ithaca,  New York, USA.

M.Sc. in Nutrition Nutritional Biochemistry and epidemiology 

1993-1996

Thesis: “Nutritional Anemia and Vitamin A deficiency in Oman: A Multivariate analysis”

 Management Training and development institute; Washington D.C. USA.

Short course: Project management and evaluation seminar

1995

 University of Michigan; Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

Short courses in the design, conduct and analysis of clinical trials 

1994

(3 short courses)

 USAID, US Department of State

Training course on sanitary and phytosanitary standards and technical barriers to trade

2004

EXPERIENCE:

Director of Nutrition Ministry of Health; Oman

2002 till date

Responsibilities: Established nutrition and dietetics programs in Ministry of Health institutions in Oman. Advice on the implementation of food borne disease surveillance system; implementation of the WHO growth charts in the health system.

Revitalize the BFHI program. Conducted research in the field of Nutrition. Established nutrition surveillance systems in primary health care and in school system; monitoring of micronutrients intervention programs such as fortification and supplementation. Established nutrition care service in primary and secondary health care MoH institutions. Established social marketing campaign for preventing protein energy malnutrition in Oman. Developed and oversee the implementation of the national nutrition policies and plans of action in the areas of supplementation; fortification; dietary diversification and public health interventions. Responsible for the design and implementation of the nutrition JPRM collaborative programs between the government of Oman and the WHO for the last 5 cycles. Responsible for the design and implementation of the Ministry of Health and UNICEF nutrition program and plan of action since 1992. 

Head of Nutrition section; Ministry of Health, Oman.

1991-2002

Assisted in the establishment of the flour fortification program in Oman. Actively worked in establishing the Omani code of marketing of breast milk substitutes. Represented the country in various regional and international meetings. Development of the National food and Nutrition policy in collaboration with various sectors. Development of guide for standards of foods sold in schools.

MEETINGS AND CONSULTATIONS:

WHO – HQ Geneva

Nutrition Program Review meeting

1998

WHO-EMRO

WHO expert consultation on the prevention and control of micronutrient malnutrition (temporary advisor) 

2001

WHO-EMRO-CEHA

WHO Inter country meeting on promotion of food safety; CEHA, Amman; Jordan (temporary advisor).

2001

WHO-EMRO

Inter country workshop on oil fortification; a simple and effective measure to eradicate vitamin A and vitamin D deficiency in EMRO (temporary advisor).

2003

WHO-EMRO

Workshop to develop nutritional surveillance capabilities of member states to improve the monitoring and evaluation capacities in nutrition programs. Alexandria- Egypt

2004

FAO-Near East Region

National Demonstration Centre (NDC) on Food Security and Consumption Statistics from Household Income and Expenditure Surveys (HIES)-Cairo, Egypt.

2005

WHO-EMRO

Regional Consultative Meeting on Food Safety Legislation: EMRO; Cairo.  (Temporary Advisor).

2005

WHO-HQ

WHO Technical Consultation on Folate and Vitamin B12 Deficiencies; WHO/HQ, Geneva. (Temporary Advisor)

2005

Consequences and control of micronutrients deficiencies Science; policy, and programs-defining the issues; Istanbul-Turkey. 

2007

WHO-EMRO

Technical Consultation On The Fortification Of Flour With Multiple Micronutrients, Kuwait, (Temporary Advisor).

2007

USAID/FDA/USDA

Round Table Discussion for senior legislator on Food Safety (Cairo)

2007

WHO-EMRO

Regional workshop to improve the national vitamin A deficiency disorders (VADD) control and prevention programmes in the Eastern Mediterranean Region member states 

November-2007

Gulf Cooperation Council 

Conference on the establishment of the Food and Drug Administration in the GCC countries; Kuwait

March 2008

Ministry of Health; Ministry of Fisheries

International conference on the economic importance of fisheries and their impact on public health  (Organizer).

March 2008

PUBLICATIONS AND PAPERS:

       High prevalence of Diabetes Mellitus and Impaired Glucose Tolerance in the Sultanate of Oman: Results of the 1991 National Diabetes Survey.  Asfour M G, Lambourne A, Suleiman A, et al.  Diabet Med 12 (12): 1122-1125 (1992).

       Nutritional Anemia and Vitamin A deficiency in Oman: A Multivariate analysis, Masters Thesis.  Alasfoor D, Cornell University, Ithaca-NY, USA (1996).

       Study of Aluminum and Lead in some traditional Omani dishes, The Journal of Egyptian Public Health Association; Al Taweela M, Alasfoor D. Vol LXXI: 5,6-1996.

       Implementation of the WHO Multicentre Growth Reference Study in Oman. Food Nutr Bull. 2004 Mar;25(1 Suppl):S78-83. Prakash NS, Mabry RM, Mohamed AJ, Alasfoor D.

       Study on nutrient content of some composite dishes commonly used in Oman, Bulletin of the High Institute of Public Health, Mahmoud M El Tawila and Dina Alasfoor.  Vol 28, No 1 (1998),   

       Body fat distribution and the risk of non-insulin dependent Diabetes Mellitus in

  The Oman population, D.H. Al-Asfoor, J.A. Al-Lawatia and A. J. Mohammed (1999).

       Socioeconomic predictors of un-constrained growth in Muscat, Oman.  A.J. Mohammed, M.D; A.W. Onyango, PhD; M. de Onis, MD, PhD; N. Prakash, PhD; R. M. Mabry, MPH, and D.H. Alasfoor, MSc. Eastern Medittaranean Health Journal. Vol 10; 3: May 2004.

       Protein Energy Malnutrition among pre-school Children in Oman, Results of a national survey.  D. Alasfoor, M. K. Al Sayed., A. A.M Al Qasmi et al.  Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal (Vol 13; 5: 2007: 146-154).

       Determinants of persistent underweight among 6-35 mo old children after huge economic and health services improvements in Oman; Deena Alasfoor; Pierre Traissac; Agnes Gartner and Francis Delpeuch (Journal of Health population and nutrition; 2007 September 25(3) 359-369.

       Implications Of The Use Of The New Who Growth Charts On The interpretation of malnutrition and obesity in infants and young children; D. Alasfoor; Ali Jaffer Mohammed.  Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal. (In press; 2007).

       The rates of Spina Bifida and Birth outcome before and after fortification of white flour with iron and folic acid in Oman; D. Alasfoor; M.K. ElSAyed, A.J. Mohammed; Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal (In press).

NATIONAL GUIDELINES AND REPORTS:

          Country report for the International Conference on Nutrition (ICN), Report of the Ministry of Health; Alasfoor D, Nutrition Section-MoH, Muscat-Oman (1991).

          Multi-center Growth Reference Study: Served as the Co-investigator and Field supervisor for the Oman site of the multi-center Growth Reference Study. Description and publications are available on : http://www.who.int/childgrowth/mgrs/en/ 

          National Protein Energy Malnutrition Survey: Was the principal investigator and the field coordinator for the national protein energy malnutrition surveys which assessed the levels of malnutrition among preschool children in Oman in 1999.

          Guidelines for training community support group members in Nutrition, Publication of the Ministry of Health in Arabic language, WHO-UNICEF-MoH Oman (1999).

          National Study on the role of care in the nutritional status of children under 2 years in Oman:  Principal investigator; and supervised data collection; management analysis and reporting ; Report available online: http://www.unicef.org/evaldatabase/files/2000_Oman_nutrition_rec_347830.pdf

          Report Of The Study On Risk Factors Associated With Protein Energy Malnutrition Among Children Less Than Three Years Old In Oman; in collaboration with Center of research for development; Montpellier; France and WHO/EMRO (Ministry of Health Publication; Oman).

         Standard Operating Procedures for the control and management of protein energy malnutrition in primary and secondary health care services in Oman; Second Edition, 2004. MoH-Oman

         Report of the Oman food security assessment derived from 2000 household income and expenditure survey; Salah Al Muzahmi; Deena Alasfoor;.; Submitted to the Minister of Health May 2006.

         Report of the National Micronutrients Survey and fortified food coverage survey: In collaboration with CDC/Atlanta and WHO/EMRO (2006).

         National Food Consumption Survey (in progress)

         Principal investigator for the Survey on Obesity and nutritional risk factors of Non-communicable Diseases in Dhofar Region (in progress).

         Oman National Food Based Dietary Guidelines technical document; 2007.

         Oman National Food Based Dietary Guidelines Supporting Documents; 2008.

         Several Technical opinion documents on food additives and contaminants to the Ministry of Health that guided decision and policy making as well as proposals for the food labeling; and nutritional claim legislations.

         Main Author of the Food Import Certification protocol:  in collaboration with relevant sectors currently developing the protocol due to be piloted in 2008.

MEMBERSHIPS

       Member of the National Diabetes Committee.

       Member of the National Breastfeeding and child nutrition committee.

       Member of the organizational and scientific committees for the Food Safety Conference 2003.

       Member of the committee on the follow-up of the recommendations of the food safety committee meeting; 2003 till date.

       Board Member of the Association of Early Intervention for Children of Special Needs (NGO) 2004-2007.

       Member of Al Noor Association for the Blind 2007 till date.

       Board member of the Omani Women Association 2007 till date.