Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading cause of mortality, morbidity, and disability worldwide. They pose immense health and socio-economic burden to all countries and particularly to the poorest segments of the global population that greatly lack access to quality health services. They constitute a major threat to public health and economic security.

Fortunately, NCDs are largely preventable by effective large-scale implementation of high-level political commitments made in 2011, 2014, 2015, and 2018 for the prevention and control of NCDs.

WHO is mandated to support countries in strengthening and orienting health systems to address the prevention and treatment of NCDs and the underlying social determinants through people-centered primary health care and universal health coverage (UHC), as stated in objective 4 of the WHO Global NCD Action Plan 2013- 2020.

EMRO has developed a Regional tool for Strengthening the Integration and Management of Non-Communicable Diseases in Primary Health Care. Adopting a health system perspective, the Framework provides EMR countries with key action areas, tailored to NCDs, for each of the six building blocks (governance; financing; health workforce development; service delivery; essential medicines and technologies; and health information).

Despite the differences in health system performance and level of health expenditure, the service delivery of NCD-orientated PHC is a constraint common to each of the EMR’s Member States. Current health care provision is often arranged vertically and organized according to specific services. Health systems need to be strategically re-orientated to integrate NCD management into people-centered primary health care.

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) 2016 ‘Framework on integrated, people-centered health services’ emphasized the importance of organizing primary health care (PHC) around the comprehensive needs of people, rather than around a singular focus of specific diseases. When combined with population-wide preventative measures, people-centered PHC can prove very effective in tackling NCDs both at the population and individual levels.

Despite the existence of technical packages for NCD prevention and control, services in the least developing countries by far remain patchy and sporadic. The effective implementation of NCD best-buys requires a collective strengthening of the health system to deliver integrated people-centered NCD services, using a primary health care approach.

The Country Capacity Survey and the current COVID-19 pandemic has disclosed the need to strengthen health systems to respond to NCDs and also to better define essential health services for those living with NCDs. During the pandemic the main finding in a rapid assessment survey showed that health services have been partially or completely disrupted in many countries; more than half (53%) of the countries surveyed have partially or completely disrupted services for hypertension treatment; 49% for treatment for diabetes and diabetes-related complications; 42% for cancer treatment, and 31% for cardiovascular emergencies. The mitigation strategies established during COVID-19 can also represent part of the build back better and include NCDs into UHC.

The second phase of the Health Transformation Plan of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MoHME), which was launched in 2015, in the Islamic Republic of Iran focused on primary care reform. To counteract the rising trend of deaths caused by Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) in the country, the plan adopted the WHO Package of Non-Communicable Diseases Interventions for Primary Health Care (WHO PEN) and included, among others, integrating a new service package for NCDs prevention and control entitled IraPEN. With a focus on the four diseases of NCDs and their main four risk actors, pilot implementation of the program was carried out in four districts of Shahreza, Maraqeh, Naqadeh, and Baft. Its implementation revealed the possibility of running IraPEN in the health system of Iran with a broader scope. Subsequently, the gradual nationwide scale-up began in at least one district per province.

This portal is related to the assessment of the Primary Health Care Measurement and Improvement (PHCMI) initiative framework and other NCD-related different surveys and assessments.