title: Building leadership capacity to prevent and control noncommunicable diseases: evaluation of an international short-term training program for program managers from low- and middle-income countries.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the impact of a 1-week training seminar jointly developed and conducted by the World Health Organization and the University Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine of Lausanne targeting senior policy-makers in low- and middle-income countries on public health aspects of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).
  
  
  METHODS
  A short qualitative questionnaire was emailed to all participants to one of the nine seminars organized between 2010 and 2015.
  
  
  RESULTS
  From the 195 participants from 96 different countries, 122 (63%) completed the questionnaire. Among them, 87% reported that the seminar made a positive contribution to their professional development and 48% said it helped strengthening their national NCD program. All respondents remained directly or indirectly involved in NCD work. A frequent suggestion was that similar seminars are developed in their region or country.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The evaluation strongly suggests that this short-term seminar had positive impact on both participants' personal development and the organization they worked for. There is a demand for organizing similar seminars at regional/country levels to support NCD prevention and control programs.
authors.affiliation: World Health Organization, Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health Cluster, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Agnes
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Erzse
authors.affiliation: University Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, Route de la Corniche 10, 1010, Lausanne, Switzerland. pascal.bovet@chuv.ch.
authors.forename: Pascal
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bovet
authors.affiliation: University Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, Route de la Corniche 10, 1010, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Fred
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Paccaud
authors.affiliation: World Health Organization, Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health Cluster, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Oleg
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Chestnov
authors.affiliation: World Health Organization, Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health Cluster, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Nicholas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Banatvala
mesh_terms: D000288:Administrative Personnel / Q000193:education* / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000328:Adult; D057191:Capacity Building / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003906:Developing Countries; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007391:International Cooperation; D007857:Leadership; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000073296:Noncommunicable Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014944:World Health Organization
keywords: Career trajectory; Low- and middle-income countries; Noncommunicable diseases; Training