WHO organized the first five-day long Training of Trainers (ToT) on the WHO Package of Essential Noncommunicable Disease Interventions for Primary Care (PEN) from 2 to 6 February 2020 in Dhaka. A total of 12 participants from different organizations received the ToT, which was conducted by technical experts from WHO and academia.
Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading cause of mortality and morbidity in Bangladesh and a threat to the health and wellbeing of citizens and the economic development of the country. Approximately 580 000 people die of NCDs every year and 51% of deaths from NCDs are occurring before the age of 70 years.
Despite a high disease burden from NCDs, primary health care (PHC) facilities in Bangladesh are not well prepared to provide NCD services. Therefore, a paradigm shift for NCD management in PHC is needed, which will incorporate integrated, patient centered, effective and equitable NCD care by efficient use of limited resources.
To address the situation, the Government of Bangladesh endorsed PEN for PHC, which is an action-oriented set of cost-effective interventions that can deliver quality of care, even in resource-constrained settings. Following that, WHO Bangladesh prepared a PEN training package, based on the “PEN and healthy lifestyle interventions – training modules for PHC workers” developed by WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia. The training of trainers course was developed by WHO Bangladesh to create a pool of skilled PEN trainers, so that PEN training and implementation of NCD services can be scaled up effectively.
The participants of this ToT will be able to provide high quality PEN training across the country to build the capacity of primary healthcare providers to implement PEN as part of the essential health service package in Bangladesh. Successful implementation of PEN in PHC settings will support Bangladesh’s efforts to achieve the SDGs and universal health coverage by 2030.