NCD Prevention, Control Program Strategizes to Beat NCDs
It is already three years since the CBC Health Services’ Non-Communicable Disease Prevention and Control Program (NCD-PCP) came into existence. After implementing activities for this length of time, it was incumbent on the program to bring together stakeholders to evaluate its three-year strategic plan that comes to an end in December 2018 and to draft a plan for the next five years.
This was, therefore, the focus of a three-day strategic planning meeting that held at the Baptist Center in Nkwen, Bamenda from November 1-3, 2018.
The NCD-PCP Manager, Mr. Mbiydzenyuy Ferdinant, presented the program’s services, highlighting that the previous strategic plan had seven components namely: Screening and referrals, NCD management, capacity building, research, advocacy and networking, surveillance, population based, and lifestyle interventions.
The Program’s lead evaluator for the first phase of implementation, Dr. Louis Mbibeh, presented the findings on the successes and limitations of the program following the evaluation that was carried out in October 2018. The evaluation results tuned the minds of the participants to raise more questions and recommendations that helped to frame the different components and goals for the program moving forward.
The CBC Director of Health Services (DHS), Prof. Tih Pius Muffih, thanked all participants for meeting to pave the way forward for the NCD-PCP. He reminded all that the essence of such a meeting is to review the program’s objectives and trends of NCDs and also to seek targeted solutions in solving the NCDs burden in the country.
The DHS reiterated the need for research and publications saying, “There is a need for a research unit to ease the work of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) and the use of the CBC Health Services’ NCD Data for publications.” The Director further remarked that “research and publications unit will showcase the work of the program, advance knowledge and improve on services within the CBC Health Services.”
The revised strategic plan is expected to contribute to the realization of the National Strategic Plan and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The comprehensive five-year strategic plan, also, seek to mobilize resources to do a thorough analysis on the NCD situation and establish collaboration with all NCD related services within the CBC Health Services.
The new strategic plan maintains the mission and vision of the first plan, which is to have “Communities free from preventable NCDs.” It has five components – as earlier stated – instead of seven in the previous strategic plan.