A Week of Collaboration Closes with Commitment to Combating NCDs Across Africa

8 May 2026

The fifth and final day of the IS4NCDs Regional Consortium Meeting brought together partners from across the consortium at the Wits School of Public Health in Johannesburg to consolidate a week of intense and productive discussions. With clear decisions made, timelines set, and responsibilities assigned, the meeting closed on a note of genuine optimism and shared purpose.

Finalising the Teaching Faculty

The morning session focused on several items that required final clarity before the week's close. A significant portion of the discussion centred on identifying and confirming the faculty who will lead and contribute to each module. Breakout groups worked through the core, intermediate, and advanced modules, mapping out module leads, co-facilitators, and potential guest lecturers from across the consortium's institutions.

The consortium agreed on the importance of having a clearly identified lead for each module to ensure accountability and coordination. It was also noted that visiting faculty from partner institutions, particularly those travelling to observe piloting at other sites, could actively contribute to teaching — strengthening knowledge transfer across the consortium.

Conclusions and the Path Forward

Following the coffee break, a comprehensive summary of the week's outcomes was presented, along with key next steps. Reflecting on the meeting's opening goals, it was noted that all had been achieved: relationships deepened, breakout sessions produced concrete decisions, and a provisional piloting timeline is now in place.

Core Modules will be piloted in an innovative format, with face-to-face classrooms running simultaneously at four institutions — Wits, Stellenbosch, the University of Zambia, and Copperbelt University — connected virtually. This approach effectively enables 12 pilots across three modules in approximately three weeks. The Fundamentals of Implementation Science short course is planned for the first week of October, followed by the NCD Epidemiology module in the fourth week of October and the Monitoring & Evaluation module in the first week of November. Up to 100 participants will be engaged across these workshops, drawing from a multidisciplinary pool including health professionals, social scientists, and implementation science practitioners.

Intermediate Modules — Mixed Methods, Quality Improvement, and Participatory Action Research — will be offered fully online, with delivery beginning in mid-October and running through to early December. These courses, led by the Stellenbosch team, will be open to participants from across sub-Saharan Africa, with geographically representative selection criteria ensuring broad regional participation. Each module will accommodate up to 35 participants, with a portfolio-based assessment component to support both transformative learning and project evaluation.

Advanced Modules in health economics, context and complexity, and implementation science theories and frameworks are planned for November, offered as face-to-face workshops with CPD accreditation. The theory and frameworks module will be anchored by the LMU team, while CBU and Wits will jointly lead health economics content.

The Executive Course is tentatively planned for June–July 2027, linked where possible to the next full consortium meeting. It will be a two-and-a-half-day face-to-face programme for 10 senior health leaders, with a rigorous selection process to ensure participants are true executives in their fields.

Evaluation, Ethics, and Publications

The consortium reaffirmed its commitment to a robust evaluation framework. An ethics application is being prepared through Institute of Tropical Medicine to obtain initial approval covering all module evaluations, with the goal of having ethical clearance in place before the first pilot. Key evaluation elements include pre- and post-module competency assessments, participant demographics to track equity and reach, qualitative analysis of portfolio reflections, and focus group discussions with knowledge creation teams and teaching faculty.

The group also discussed a growing body of publications emerging from the project — including a literature-based competency framework and a regional survey — and called on consortium members to consider how they might contribute to the writing and dissemination of findings.

Key Deadlines

A set of immediate action points was confirmed before the close:

• Implementation roadmaps (Parts A and B) for CBU, Wits, and Stellenbosch to be submitted by 15 May 2026
• CPD and micro-credential accreditation submissions to be completed by end of May–June 2026, depending on institution
• First version of the mid-term progress report to be ready by end of May, with final submission by 30 June 2026
• Centralised expression of interest for all modules to be live by 15 August 2026
• Participant selection completed by 1 September 2026

The formal closing of the meeting was marked by warm words of thanks from the Wits local organising team and — in a fitting Wits tradition — a group photograph in the atrium. The executive leadership offered closing remarks commending the team for an exceptional week.

Particular thanks were extended to the Wits hosting team, whose logistical support made the full in-person meeting possible, having originally been planned as a virtual event.

The next full consortium meeting will be hosted by Stellenbosch University in the Western Cape province of South Africa in 2027. In the meantime, three virtual or hybrid check-ins are planned around the piloting period to keep the consortium connected and aligned.

As the week drew to a close, the mood was clear: the foundations have been laid, the timelines are set, and the IS4NCDs consortium is ready to move from planning to action — with a shared commitment to strengthening implementation science capacity and combating non-communicable diseases across Africa.