Report of the Second Joint Programme Managers Meeting on Case Management and Preventative Chemotherapy

Two years after the first joint PC and Case Management (CM) NTD meeting in Libreville in June 2017, the Regional NTD Programme and ESPEN have held the Second National Programme Managers meeting, co-hosted by the African Union Commission for Social Affairs, in Addis-Ababa Ethiopia, July 16-18 2019. This meeting had objectives to guide the development of the Regional NTD strategy and strategic plan for the period 2021-2030 as well as the next 5-year phase of ESPEN with participation of NTD National Programme Managers, partner institutions, NGOs and donors, as well as WHO NTD staff members from the three levels, by carrying out a pre-end-term review of the implementation of the NTD Roadmap 2012-2020 and of the NTD Regional Strategic Plan for 2014-2020. 

The meeting attracted 288 registered participants from WHO/HQ, WHO/AFRO, RPRG members, programme managers from the Ministry of Health, Country NPOs, and partners. During the three days meeting, participants reviewed the regional and national NTD achievements since the last joint meeting in 2017, the challenges and constraints encountered in the region, lessons learnt and best practices adopted. Action points and recommendations to improve the implementation of regional and national annual plans, and activities between July 2019 and December 2020 were proposed. Finally, participants agreed on the way towards, the development of the NTD regional and national goals, targets, and priority interventions in line with the draft global NTD Roadmap 2021-2030.