The PEN-Plus National Operational Plan Validation Workshop took place from January 13-14, 2024, at the Marriott Executive Apartments Hotel. The event commenced with opening remarks from Mr. Wondu Bekele, Executive Director of MWECS, and Dr. Aschalew, Senior Advisor to the Minister of Health. Their remarks highlighted the PEN-Plus initiative and its positive impact in the Amhara and Oromia regions in the past 2 years.
Following this, the workshop’s objectives, expectations, and goals were outlined, aligning with the WHO Afro’s milestone of achieving National Operational Plans (NOPs) for PEN-Plus in 50 member states by 2025. Additionally, a detailed overview of the draft NOP was presented.
Participants were then divided into Three breakout groups, where they provided focused feedback, shared their expertise, and discussed potential improvements to the NOP. Each group evaluated key areas, including the Background, burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), the regional and national policy environment for severe chronic NCDs, existing health system capacities, and the experiences of PEN-Plus implementation in Ethiopia, SWOT analysis for the national scale-up ,costs as well as resource requirements, monitoring ,evaluation Learning and Accountability framework.
A significant topic of discussion was the total number of health facilities to be included in the plan. Initially, the proposal was to cover 50 primary hospitals by the end of 2025, but it has been decided to increase this number to 150 facilities. Concerns regarding resource allocation were addressed, with suggestions to strengthen partnerships with the Ministry of Health and other relevant stakeholders to secure the necessary resources.
After thorough discussions, representatives from each group presented their identified areas for improvement. A consensus was reached on which sections to incorporate into the final NOP, aligning opinions and finalization of the document to submit for MOH initial endorsement .
MWECS would like to extend its heartfelt gratitude to representatives from the Ministry of Health as well as relevant stakeholders such as NCDI Poverty Network, WHO, Partners ,Addis Ababa University, Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital, EPHI and ETS.
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