DRC Commission Convenes for Situation Analysis Meeting and Prepares for Priority-Setting
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) NCDI Poverty Commission met for its first technical meeting on 27 September in Kinshasa to review national NCDI data as part an initial situation analysis.
Commission Coordinator and NCDI Poverty Network Steering Committee Member Dr. Aimée Lulebo delivered opening remarks to the 20 Commissioners on behalf of Commission Chair Dr. Dieudonné Mwamba, who was unable to attend. Dr. Lulebo highlighted the important of using the results of the situation analysis to support decision making and resource mobilization as the Commission proceeds with the next phases of its work – priority-setting for interventions that address the burden of severe NCDs, followed by design and implementation of integrated service delivery models to deliver prioritized interventions.
NCDI Poverty Network Managing Director Emmanuel Mensah provided an overview of the Network’s four phase theory of change as well as the project objectives. Objectives of NCDI Poverty Commissions in Phase 1: Situation Analysis and Priority-Setting are:
Document current chronic NCD policies, strategies, and achievements
Estimate the burden of chronic NCDs based on primary and modeled data
Provide data on the availability and coverage of key health sector interventions against norms and standards
Analyze current spending and investments related to chronic NCDs
Provide recommendations for cost-effective health sector interventions and their associated costs and impacts to achieve universal health coverage (UHC)
Commission member Dr. Marc Yambayamba followed with a presentation on the results of the DRC situation analysis. A key finding was that although the burden of NCDIs is large, only 5% of national health expenditures is allocated to their prevention and treatment.
In the discussion that followed, Commissioners agreed on the need to raise awareness of the national NCDI burden to national decision makers as well as strengthen response coordination.
The DRC Commission will convene again in December for a priority-setting workshop.