Mozambique Co-Secretariat Awarded a European Commission Grant to Assess PEN-Plus Implementation

Dr. Lindolfo dos Santos provides care for Elisa Edson, an eight-year-old with type 1 diabetes, at the PEN-Plus clinic in Nhamatanda, Mozambique. (Photo: © Ivan Simone Congolo / World Health Organization)

The European Commission has awarded a five-year Horizon Europe grant to a partnership that includes the NCDI Poverty Network and its Mozambique co-secretariat—housed at Universidade Eduardo Mondlane in Maputo—to assess and support the implementation of PEN-Plus in Mozambique. 

The 4-million-euro award will support a research and implementation project known as PEN CONNECT, which will focus on bridging primary and secondary health facilities—local health centers and district hospitals, respectively—to provide integrated care for people living with noncommunicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and mental health conditions. The project team will assess the implementation of integrated care at two sites in Mozambique: Nhamatanda, which has a PEN-Plus clinic, and Marracuene, home to the country’s national health institute, Instituto Nacional de Saúde.

“This is a big opportunity for us to understand, through a systematic evaluation of these two sites, the impact of PEN-Plus implementation,” said Dr. Ana Mocumbi, co-chair of the NCDI Poverty Network and a professor at Universidade Eduardo Mondlane. “We hope this work will also provide momentum for Mozambique to assess the integration of PEN-Plus within its health system.”

The partnership receiving the grant includes collaborators in Mozambique and Europe. The Mozambique contingent, led by Dr. Mocumbi, involves Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, the NCDI Poverty Network, and Instituto Nacional de Saúde. Led by Dr. Kerstin Klipstein-Grobusch, an associate professor at University Medical Centre Utrecht, the European contingent brings together experts from University Medical Centre Utrecht, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and the University of London.

Dr. Mocumbi said the partnership is just two years old. 

“This grant is a big milestone for us,” she said. “By strengthening health systems and optimizing care pathways, we aim to help lift the country’s high burden of chronic conditions and improve the integrated management of moderate-to-severe hypertension, diabetes, and common mental health disorders. We also hope PEN-CONNECT will allow us to develop integrated, patient-centered care models that can be implemented and scaled up in similar settings across the world.” 

The project could launch as early as October 2025.