Building capacity for NCD prevention and control meeting

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REPORT: REGIONAL MEETING ON PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF NCD
Part 1
Building Capacity for NCD Prevention and Control
Malaysia has a growing diabetes problem. In 2006, diabetes prevalence was 15%, with a newly diagnosed
prevalence rate of 5.4%. “Proactive” was initiated by a local clinic and is a community mobilization programme
for weight management. With no additional resources and using dietitians to provide lifestyle advice and
support and weight loss competitions, the clinic has succeeded in helping participants to lose weight.
These real-life examples provided both motivation and information for action on NCD prevention and control
in a variety of settings. There is a need, however, for good impact evaluation to assess sustainability (can the
programme produce long-term health benefi ts?) and reach (can it be transferred to another location?).
Identifying and understanding barriers to progress and countering them.
Participants worked in groups to identify and understand barriers to progress and to come up with practical
solutions. The groups were as follows:
Group 1: Pacifi c island countries (Population interventions)
Group 2: China, Malaysia, Mongolia and the Philippines (Monitoring and evaluation)
Group 3: Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Viet Nam (Policy)
The outcome of a series of identification, voting and analysis processes was the identification and
prioritization of a barrier to each of the areas of focus, three causes underlying those barriers and
countermeasures for these causes and, fi nally, some practical steps for implementing the countermeasures.
Tables 3 to 5 summarize the outcome.
TABLE 3: Practical steps for advancing action on population interventions
Barrier Causes Counter measures Practical step
Weak political
Lack of training Organize training
Online training qualifi cation
support and
(programmes, courses, etc) Short-term training locally
leadership
Short-term training overseas
Short-term attachments overseas
No planning Include monitoring and
Develop monitoring and evaluation (with training) template
evaluation in planning
M&E training (local )
framework
M&E training (overseas)
Lack of
Ability to advocate creatively Parliamentary champions
creativity to
Increasing partnerships with other stakeholders (media, NGOs, etc.)
advocate
Train CEOs / Permanent secretaries in advocacy
Hire advocacy specialist
Online training was considered particularly attractive in the Pacifi c because, in most countries, this could be
done in English and a Pacifi c online network is already in place. Online training also helps people avoid the
costs associated with the travel that is often required for other types of training course.