Network Co-Secretariat and Southern Africa Regional Hub Launched

NCDI Poverty Network Steering Committee Co-Chair Dr. Ana Mocumbi, Minister of Health Dr. Armindo Tiago, and UEM Rector Dr. Orlando António Quilambo (from left) in Maputo for the launch of the Mozambique Co-Secretariat and Southern Africa Regional Hub of the NCDI Poverty Network.

More than 40 leading NCDI policy makers, researchers, care providers, and advocates—including the Minister of Health, His Excellency Dr. Armindo Tiago, and Dr. Orlando António Quilambo, Rector of Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (UEM)—convened in Maputo on 27 October for the launch of the Mozambique Co-Secretariat and Southern Africa Regional Hub of the NCDI Poverty Network, which will be based at UEM.

Almost 100 other members and supporters of the NCDI Poverty Network joined the hybrid event virtually from around the region and around the world, including members of the global Lancet NCDI Poverty Commission, Co-Chairs of national NCDI Poverty Commissions, Voices of NCDI Poverty Advocacy Fellows, and representatives of key supporting organizations including WHO AFRO, Helmsley Charitable Trust, Global ARCH, Children's HeartLink, World Heart Federation, American Academy of Pediatrics, East African Diabetes Study Group, Beyond Type 1, JDRF, the Pan-African Society of Cardiology (PASCAR), Redac Network, PATH, World Diabetes Foundation, SickleInAfrica, Action on Smoking & Health (ASH), and Aga Khan University.

The launch event showcased progress made since the release of the Lancet NCDI Poverty Commission report and outlined the future direction of the NCDI Poverty Network and the PEN-Plus Partnership. Speakers included Ana Mocumbi and Gene Bukhman, Co-Chairs of the NCDI Poverty Network Steering Committee; Jean Marie Dangou, Coordinator of Noncommunicable Diseases Management at the WHO Regional Office for Africa (AFRO); Professor Emílio Tostão, Director of the Scientific Directorate at UEM; Humberto Muquingue, Mozambique NCDI Poverty Commissioner; Jones Kaponda Masiye, Co-Chair of the Malawi NCDI Poverty Commission and NCDI Poverty Network Steering Committee member; Estefania Palomino, Program Officer at the Helmsley Charitable Trust; Síntia Tamele of the UEM Patient’s Association; and Joseph Rhatigan, Deputy Chief of the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Dr. Gene Bukhman set the stage for the event by providing an overview of the Lancet NCDI Poverty Commission report, which found that severe NCDs that disproportionately affect children and young adults among the world’s poorest populations represent the biggest gap in universal health coverage for low- and lower-middle income countries.

The Commission identified dozens of highly equitable and cost-effective health sector interventions that could address this gap, and recommended that, in response to failures in governance and global solidarity, the countries where the poorest billion live spearhead a new NCDI Poverty movement to accelerate implementation of solutions at the national level, with support from a global social movement and NCDI Poverty Fund. The launch of the Mozambique Co-Secretariat and Southern Africa Regional Hub, Bukhman observed in closing, marks milestone in building that movement.

“We are here to celebrate and learn about the real progress being made to better the lives of the world’s poorest billion people suffering and dying from noncommunicable conditions…
Today, one year since the publication the Lancet Commission report, we are seeing the NCDI Poverty movement come into being.”
– Gene Bukhman

Dr. Ana Mocumbi, inaugural director of the NCDI Poverty Network Co-Secretariat at UEM, shared that in the year since the Lancet Report was published, the NCDI Poverty Network has expanded to 21 countries, with 14 of them implementing or scaling PEN-Plus, an integrated delivery model that decentralizes priority interventions for severe chronic NCDs like type 1 diabetes, rheumatic heart disease, and sickle cell disease. The Mozambique Co-Secretariat as the Southern Africa regional hub will help the Network expand its reach and maximize impact. 

Dr. Mocumbi explained that over the next three years, 10 new countries — including Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Tanzania in the southern Africa region — will initiate PEN-Plus clinics at one or two rural hospitals, establish training sites, and develop operational plans for national scale-up. The goal of the PEN-Plus partnership is to increase the number of the world’s poorest children and young adults receiving high-quality care for severe chronic NCDs tenfold by 2030.

There has been absolutely extraordinary progress in just one year. Seven new countries have joined the Network, bringing the total number of countries up to 21. Eight of these countries will be undertaking detailed facility assessments to inform the delivery of a broad range of prioritized interventions. Ten countries are undertaking the initial implementation of the PEN-Plus service delivery model. And four countries are actually working to scale this model nationally.”
— Ana Olga Mocumbi

Speaking from the perspective of an implementing partner, Jean-Marie Dangou voiced WHO AFRO’s strong support for the NCDI Poverty Network and for PEN-Plus. Dr. Dangou praised the Network for being a leader in addressing NCDIs with an agenda rooted in equity and for uniquely seeking to treat severe chronic NCDs in the young. He described PEN-Plus as a key part of WHO AFRO’s NCD strategy that will also strengthen WHO PEN through an emphasis on referral networks, enhanced mentorship and supervision, and robust training plans for patients with chronic NCDs at all levels of the health system. 

At the conclusion of the event, UEM Rector Orlando Quilambo signed a Memorandum of Understanding formalizing the collaboration between Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and UEM. Speaking on behalf of the Division of Global Health Equity at BWH, the Program in Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Partners In Health, Joseph Rhatigan endorsed the partnership as “one of the things that gives me hope for humanity.”

Health Minister Dr. Armindo Tiago, who had attended the entire meeting, delivered closing remarks in which he shared his hope that the establishment of the NCDI Poverty Network at UEM will contribute to improving coordination among all stakeholders in the context of the new government policy that prioritizes an approach to health conditions based on social determinants of health. The Minister expressed confidence that the NCDI Poverty Network will accelerate progress in incorporating NCD care into primary health care systems and alleviating the NCD burden among the poorest billion.