Duration: 2023

Partner institution: Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), Ethiopia

Involved RKI units: ZIG 1, Unit 24, Unit 25, Unit 26

Latest updates:

• ZIG contributes to African Union’s public health conference in Zambia
• Supporting surveillance systems strengthening for non-communicable diseases

Challenges addressed by the project

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and mental disorders are increasing globally; 80% of annual deaths from NCDs occur in low and middle income countries. In 2019, NCDs, including mental disorders, caused over 2.1 million premature deaths on the African continent, and more than 204 million Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) were lost due to NCDs. NCD, injury and mental disorder prevention and control needs reliable, timely and integrated data. In line with the ‘Africa CDC Non-Communicable Diseases, Injuries Prevention and Control and Mental Health Promotion Strategy (2022-26)’, Africa CDC supports African Union (AU) Member States in their efforts to strengthen national NCD, injuries and Mental Health (MH) surveillance.

Objectives

Strengthening surveillance systems for improved data availability and evidence-informed decisions on non-communicable diseases, injuries and mental health in African countries.

Africa CDC and RKI cooperate to identify strengths, good practices and gaps in NCDI/MH surveillance on the African continent. The results will be translated into a continental guidance document for national NCDI/MH surveillance systems strengthening. Furthermore, acknowledging the need for continuity of NCD and MH care in public health crises, Africa CDC and RKI will develop a guidance document for the integration of NCDs and MH into national emergency preparedness and response (EPR) plans.

Overview of activities

One set of activities is on research and the provision of evidence, including the i) facilitation of peer-to-peer situational analyses of NCDI/MH surveillance in selected AU Members States, using adapted and contextualized assessment tools by WHO and IANPHI (International Association of National Public Health Institutes); ii) the development of a guidance document for national NCDI/MH surveillance strengthening; and iii) the identification of national EPR plans inclusive of NCD/ MH and development of a continental guidance document for NCD/MH consideration in EPR plans.

In addition, training and competence development occurs through i) strengthening methodological capacity through peer-to-peer exercises; ii) promoting sustainable knowledge growth through collaborating countries as regional multipliers in follow-on activities; and iii) enabling and fostering the use of good practices in NCD/MH inclusion in national EPR documents.

Networking and cooperation will help attain the project objective by fostering experts’ collaboration in and across African regions and strengthening interdisciplinary networking across technical areas, including surveillance, NCDI/MH monitoring and emergency preparedness and response.