CARMEN Policy Observatory and Dialogue Proposal

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CARMEN Policy Observatory and Dialogue Proposal

• Presentation to the
• CARMEN Directing Board Meeting
• San Juan, Puerto Rico
• 30 June 2003

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Key Challenges for CARMEN

• Bring NCD prevention to the forefront of the
  discussion on social and economic policy
  development
• Facilitate and support national NCD policy

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CARMEN as an Action-Oriented Initiative

• Main levels of action for a public health
  approach for NCD
• Policy
• Community
• Health Services

4
CARMEN as a repository of intervention knowledge

• Focus on evaluation
• Pool and wealth of intervention knowledge at the
  3 levels of action
• To be further evaluated and exploited
• Learning about good practices
• Potential Platform for NCD Policy Research
• Provides access to expertise in policy research
  and to channels for NCD delivery of policies and
  programs among countries.

5
CARMEN as a Network

• Readily available dissemination channel on
  lessons learned among countries
• Case stories from demonstration areas can be
  used
• To raise visibility / profile
• To obtain political and public support

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Roadblocks facing CARMEN

• Lack of political support for NCD prevention
• Less than 50 of WHO Member States have
  established national NCD prevention policies and
  plans
• Less than 40 for the Americas

7
Ref Assessment of National Capacity for
Noncommunicable Disease Prevention and Control.
WHO 2002
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(No Transcript)
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• Health Canada, through its WHO Collaborating
  Centre on NCD Policy facilitated 2 comparative
  studies (1994 and 2000) on policy development and
  implementation processes.
• 27 CINDI countries and 3 CARMEN countries
  participated
• Results provide useful guidance on policy gaps
  and challenges

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Some key findings Strategic issues to be
addressed by CINDI/CARMEN

• Increased focus on population approaches
• Better marketing of NCD programs
• Case studies should be better exploited as
  advocacy tools
• Challenge of moving from demonstrations to
  countrywide, and to integrate into national
  health systems
• Untapped opportunities for CINDI and CARMEN as
  research observatories for best practices
• Potential of CINDI and CARMEN as linkage agents
  with other health promotion and disease
  prevention initiatives.

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CARMEN Policy Observatory ProposalJoint
initiative between the WHO Collaborating Centre
on NCD Policy (Canada) and PAHO
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Building on investments and experience to date

• WHO Collaborative Centre on NCD Policy
• Prior policy comparative studies
• Qualitative research expertise
• Ongoing NCD policy working group for CINDI
  centres.

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Policy Observatory for Latin America and the
Caribbean

• Provide a knowledge base and analytical support
  to policy-makers
• Comparative NCD policy analysis
• Bridge between evidence and policy makers needs
• Develop tools and practical recommendations

POTENTIAL PARTNERS AIM

• PAHO / WHO
• Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and
  Control
• Member States
• Academic Institutions
• NGOs, etc.

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Why a Policy Observatory for Latin America and
the Caribbean?

• Common NCD Policy Challenges across the region
• Scarce evidence on the actual effectiveness of
  NCD policies
• Ideology-rich but knowledge poor
• Available information lacks relevance for
  policy-makers and agencies

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Goals of the Observatory

• Support and promote evidence-based health policy
  making through comprehensive analysis of NCD
  policy development and implementation processes
• Expand the necessary technical capabilities for
  NCD policy analysis and evaluation in the Region
  to provide evidence base to support decision
  making process
• Bring NCD prevention at the forefront of policy
  discussions and increase visibility and political
  support

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Key Objectives

• To facilitate the introduction of policies for
  the prevention of NCDs in government and social
  development programs
• To technically improve the formulation and
  implementation of NCD policies
• To boost technical capacity in the countries
• e.g. analysis and evaluation of public policies
  for the prevention of NCD in Latin America and
  the Caribbean

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Key Objectives

• To generate relevant information for the design,
  formulation, and implementation of public
  policies for the prevention of NCDs
• To adopt and adapt methodologies for policy
  analysis in the Region to facilitate their
  frequent use in decision-making
• To promote the formulation of policies that
  advocate NCD prevention in the Region
• To facilitate technical cooperation among
  countries

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Monitoring
Clearinghouse
NCD Policy Observatory
Training
Dissemination
Policy Analysis
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Activities Products

• Country Information Monitoring
• NCD Policy Profiles for Countries in the Region
• Clearinghouse
• Collection and classification of scientific and
  grey information on key policy issues and
  individual country experiences

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Activities Products

• Analytical studies on NCD Policies
• Cross-country sub regional comparisons through
  case studies and qualitative research
• Dissemination Activities
• Websites
• Publication
• Policy forums
• Training

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A First Step

• Case studies of
• Public policies aimed at prevention and control
  of the most important risk factors for NCDs such
  as smoking, nutrition and physical inactivity
• Establishment of a technical working group with
  interested countries
• Timetable
• Completion of case studies by end of 2004

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Next Steps

• Expand to other networks, e.g. CINDI
• Additional themes for analysis
• Dissemination, publications, web- based tools
• Policy dialogues / forums, etc.