Health ministers, clinicians, and development leaders from across Africa have issued a collective call to action to combat severe and chronic noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), pledging to elevate the issue as an urgent health and development priority to meet Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets by 2030. The commitments, issued at the Third International Conference for PEN-Plus in Africa (ICPPA 2026), held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania from 23–25 June 2026, represent a turning point in Africa’s response to NCDs, which account for a rising share of disease burden across the continent.
Key takeaways
- African governments commit to fully implement PEN and PEN-Plus interventions for early detection, diagnosis, and long-term care of severe and chronic NCDs
- Conference participants call for significant increased investment in children and poor populations affected by NCDs, leaving no one behind
- WHO is urged to intensify its leadership and normative role, while development partners and the private sector are called to mobilise substantially more funding
PEN-Plus Implementation Priorities Across Africa
Core commitments from ICPPA 2026 participants, Dar es Salaam, June 2026
Source: ICPPA 2026 Call to Action, WHO AFRO | Georgian Medical Journal News
A Unified Response to Africa’s NCD Crisis
The Call to Action document reflects growing consensus among participants from government, health systems, academia, and civil society that severe and chronic NCDs represent a critical barrier to achieving the SDGs by 2030. The conference theme—”Advancing progress towards SDG targets for NCDs in Africa by 2030″—underscores the urgency of translating policy into action across the continent, particularly in primary care settings where the majority of the African population seeks health services.
Participants committed to advancing integrated early detection, diagnosis, treatment, and long-term care at all health system levels, with explicit emphasis on strengthening primary care and first-referral facilities. This represents a significant shift toward decentralised NCD management, ensuring that patients do not require travel to tertiary centres for routine diagnosis and monitoring. The commitment to people-centred care and multisectoral collaboration—spanning health, education, food systems, and workplace health—signals recognition that NCD prevention and control require action beyond the health sector alone.
Participants committed to elevate severe and chronic NCDs as an urgent health and development priority, advance integrated early detection and treatment at all levels, and reduce premature NCD mortality while leaving no one behind.
— Third International Conference for PEN-Plus in Africa (ICPPA 2026), Call to Action, Dar es Salaam, June 2026
Government Action and WHO’s Leadership Role
The Call to Action explicitly calls upon African governments to fully implement the Package of Essential Noncommunicable Disease Interventions (PEN) and its expanded version PEN-Plus. PEN-Plus, developed by the World Health Organization, provides governments with evidence-based, cost-effective clinical and public health protocols for managing the leading NCDs—including hypertension, diabetes, asthma, and cancers—within resource-constrained settings. Full implementation of these protocols requires trained health workers, reliable supply chains for essential medicines, and functional monitoring systems.
The conference participants simultaneously urged the WHO to intensify its leadership and normative role in NCD prevention and control across the African region. This call reflects both recognition of WHO’s technical capacity and a demand for more assertive regional advocacy and country-level technical support. The implications extend beyond clinical guidelines; they encompass workforce development, quality assurance, and coordination across multiple government sectors to address the social determinants of NCDs.
See coverage of Health Policy initiatives on GMJ News for related SDG implementation frameworks.
Mobilising Investment for Vulnerable Populations
A central theme of the Call to Action is the call for significantly increased investment by development partners, donors, UN agencies, and the private sector—particularly to support children and poor populations affected by severe and chronic NCDs. This reflects evidence that NCDs disproportionately affect low-income and marginalised populations in Africa, where access to diagnosis and treatment remains severely limited. The conference participants recognised that without targeted, sustained financing, PEN-Plus implementation will remain incomplete, leaving entire population groups behind.
The appeal for private sector engagement signals a pragmatic recognition that governments alone cannot bridge the financing gap for NCD prevention and control infrastructure. Private companies, including pharmaceutical manufacturers, diagnostic device producers, and health technology firms, are called upon to support capacity-building, technology transfer, and affordability initiatives. This multi-stakeholder approach reflects the complex nature of NCD systems strengthening, which requires coordination across public health, clinical medicine, commerce, and civil society.
See Global Health coverage on SDG progress and development financing.
Bridging the Implementation Gap
While policy commitments and calls to action represent important steps, the real challenge lies in translating these commitments into sustained, measurable action. The ICPPA 2026 Call to Action provides a framework and accountability mechanism, but success will depend on whether governments establish NCD implementation units with dedicated budgets, whether WHO regional and country offices intensify technical support, and whether development partners and donors maintain long-term funding commitments. The emphasis on leaving no one behind signals that equity—ensuring vulnerable populations benefit from NCD interventions—must be monitored and reported as rigorously as clinical outcomes.
The conference outcomes also highlight the need for harmonisation of NCD policies across African nations, standardisation of training curricula for health workers, and establishment of comparable monitoring and evaluation frameworks. These systemic requirements go beyond clinical practice and demand coordinated action at the continental, regional, and national levels. The next critical milestone will be tracking whether signatory countries release implementation roadmaps with specific timelines and resource allocations within the coming months.
What this means
Frequently asked questions
What is PEN-Plus and how does it differ from PEN?
The Package of Essential Noncommunicable Disease Interventions (PEN), developed by the WHO, provides evidence-based clinical protocols and public health measures for managing leading NCDs in resource-limited settings. PEN-Plus is an expanded version that incorporates additional interventions and strengthens integration across health system levels, with greater emphasis on early detection, long-term care, and people-centred approaches. Both aim to deliver cost-effective, high-quality NCD care at primary and first-referral facilities.
Why is the focus on “leaving no one behind” particularly important for NCD control in Africa?
NCDs in Africa disproportionately affect low-income and marginalised populations due to barriers in access to diagnosis, treatment, and preventive care. By explicitly committing to “leave no one behind,” the ICPPA 2026 participants acknowledge that NCD interventions must be equitable and reach the most vulnerable populations—children in poverty, rural communities, and displaced persons—rather than benefiting only those with resources or urban access.
What role is the private sector expected to play in PEN-Plus implementation?
The Call to Action calls on the private sector—including pharmaceutical and diagnostic device manufacturers, health technology firms, and commercial healthcare providers—to increase investment and support capacity-building, technology transfer, and affordability initiatives. Private partners are expected to complement government and development partner efforts, ensuring sustainable supply chains and innovation in NCD detection and treatment tools.
The Third International Conference for PEN-Plus in Africa marks a significant step forward in continental commitment to NCD prevention and control. The Call to Action issued from Dar es Salaam provides a clear roadmap—one that governments, WHO, development partners, and private sector stakeholders must now operationalise through concrete policy, funding, and implementation mechanisms. The success of this collective commitment will be measured not in declarations, but in the number of Africans who receive timely, high-quality NCD care by 2030.
Source: Call to Action – Third International Conference for PEN-Plus in Africa (ICPPA 2026), WHO AFRO, June 2026
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