Engaging stakeholders in NCD prevention: The case of Joint Action PreventNCD

Abstract

JA PreventNCD is a four-year EU Joint Action, one of the largest ones in public health, involving 25 countries, aiming to reduce the burden of cancer and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs) by addressing common risk factors at both personal and societal levels. It seeks to strengthen prevention policies, improve monitoring, reduce social inequalities, and support coordinated action across sectors and governance levels. Meaningful stakeholder engagement is essential for strengthening the relevance, uptake, and sustainability of public health action. Within JA PreventNCD, stakeholder engagement is used as a practical mechanism to improve dissemination, policy relevance, collaboration, sustainability and accountability in NCD prevention. This presentation addresses the question: how to engage with stakeholders in a large European public health initiative in ways that are both strategic and operational? The presentation will showcase two complementary levels of engagement. First, at the European level, JA PreventNCD has established a diverse Stakeholder Group involving organisations with strong outreach, expertise, and influence in NCD prevention and health promotion. The group helps identify challenges and opportunities, advises on communication, contributes topic-specific input, and supports dissemination through its networks. Second, at the national level, the project works through country communication focal points in 25 countries. These actors map country-level stakeholders, identify policy windows of opportunity, and organise national stakeholder events linked to project priorities. These events present project activities, gather input, inform project content, strengthen national relevance, and support dissemination and uptake in different country contexts. Together, these two levels illustrate how stakeholder engagement can be embedded as an ongoing and structured part of implementation in a complex Joint Action.