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Creating Sustainable Systems and Favorable Environments for National NTD Programs
Strengthening countries’ environments for the continued implementation and management of national NTD programs (NTDP) as part of a country’s overall strategic health plan is one of the cornerstone goals of the program. Building sustainable NTDPs entail strengthening a country’s health system and its policies so that NTD activities are prioritized and integrated into all related sectors of the government.
Since 2018, the Act | West program has been partnering with countries’ Ministries of Health, local government officials and community leaders in implementing a five-phase approach (see Figure 1), from landscape analysis and sustainability planning to supporting implementation of country-led sustainability efforts. By Year 4 of the five-year project, Act|West has supported countries that were developing or implementing their sustainability plans.
Briefs
These briefs present a few ideas that focus on key aspects to effective program sustainability planning based on lessons the Act | West program learned from the field over the last 3 years:
Among Act | West’s progress towards NTDP sustainability includes these notable accomplishments:
Provided technical consultation for the development of sustainability plans in Benin, Ghana, Mali and Sierra Leone and political validation of sustainability plans in Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal and Togo, with the formal endorsements of the Ministers of Health.
Worked with Burkina Faso and Niger in progressing sustainability Phases 1, 2 and 3 (sensitizing counterparts and secure buy in, conduct landscape and sustainability analysis, respectively). In all three countries, the Act West team used cascade trainer of trainers approach and virtual facilitation to complete financial data entry and analysis.
Launching of the revamped Intra-Country Coordination Committee (ICCC), a new SCH/STH Expert Committee in Ghana and Togo, a newly established Partners Network Forum (PNF) in Sierra Leone, establishment of a National NTD Multisector Committee (CNLMTN) in Senegal, establishment of national multisector coordination committee for NTDs control and elimination in Mali and revamping and launching of multisectoral coalition to fight again NTDs in Niger (CMLMTN).
Implementation of advanced sustainable financing activities such as domestic resources mobilization initiative (DRM) in Cameroon, and national budget mapping and engagements with regional councils for prioritization of NTDs into local development plans in Guinea, both of which will use more targeted technical assistance and focus on specific interventions for sustainability (versus the full five-phased sustainability approach).
Learn more about Act | West’s sustainability efforts:
- Ghana High-level Multisectoral Stakeholder Engagement Seeks to Mobilize Political Commitment
- Mali’s sustainability workshop story
- The Comité National de Lutte contre les Maladies Tropicales Négligées (CNLMTN) is the cornerstone of Senegal’s sustainable approach to advance achievements against NTDs! | ActNTDs
- “Health is Everyone’s Business”: How Togo is Tackling Sustainable Neglected Tropical Disease Services | ActNTDs
- Ghana proceeds to the next phase of Neglected Tropical Diseases program sustainability | ActNTDs
- Sierra Leone Prioritizes Community Ownership in Sustainability Plan Development | ActNTDs
- “Fresh Takes: A conversation with stakeholders about doing business differently to secure sustainable NTD programs” webinar (October 6, 2021). Recordings of the webinar accessible in English and French
- Catalyst for Sustainability in Ghana
- Government of Cote d’Ivoire Backs National Neglected Tropical Diseases Sustainability Plan