Public Health England was asked by the NDoH to peer review the NCDs NSP draft 4 of 2020 in December 2020. This request appears to have been made in terms of the agreement with the NDoH and the UK Foreign Office Better Health Project South Africa These comments will be discussed with the NCDs NSP Technical Committee on 1 Feb 21 and PHE.
The unsigned and undated letter sent to nearly 150 stakeholders asking for comments on the “final draft” of the NCDs National Strategic Plan on 18 May 2020. The timelines for the previously unseen document are given in the table below.
Circulate the draft to ALL Stakeholders for inputs/comments
23/05 2020
Receive final inputs from Stakeholder
27/05/2020
Incorporate the inputs/comments received from the Stakeholders into the draft and finalise the draft Incorporate Costing input. Obtain Approval for Minster’s Foreword and DG’s Acknowledgement
26/05/2020
Prepare submission for consideration and recommendation by the Technical Committee of the NHC
Timelines given by NDoH to comment on NCDs national plan from 18 May 2020
NYP objectives 1 and 2 are directly relevant to the NCDs agenda:
Integrate youth development into the mainstream of government policies, programmes and the national budget.
To promote physical, mental, spiritual; and sexual reproductive health and rights
A quick look at sections in the NYP draft directly to health and NCDs are: 6.4 — Poor health, high HIV/AIDS prevalence, and high rates of violence and substance abuse (page 19). 6.7 — Youth with disabilities (page 20). 7.2 — Physical and mental health promotion (page 32).
?A policy wish list ?
The policy is suitably vague interventions using language like “should ensure” and no targets. Critical health issues like substance abuse and youth suicide must be linked with the NCDs strategic plan. tical issues like youth suicide gets one line in a paragraph one