Public Health and Healthcare Management Consultancy

Steve Penfold MA FRSPH FCMI is mtwenty's Director of Public Health and International Development. He is a UK-based public health specialist, with a 30 year track record of successfully developing programmes at local, regional and national level in the UK, and at national level in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Jordan, Haiti, and Kyrgyzstan.  

After 8 years in the NHS & 5 years in the Department of Health (inc. as Deputy Head of Sexual Health and HIV for England), he transitioned to Cambodia for six years, where he was a National Programme Director for an NGO in Cambodia, before becoming a Chief Executive for an NGO working with survivors of sexual assault and trafficking.

His consultancies began in 2013 working on consecutive assignments for the the World Health Organisation and then PEPFAR. Since 2016 he has assisted USAID on multiple Global Health projects (2016-2025), and latterly Steve's focus has returned to Public Health in the UK. 

Thematic areas covered include:

• Global Health Protection/Pandemic preparedness
• Health Systems Strengthening 
• HIV Planning and Program Development
• Sexual, Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health
• Services for Survivors of Gender Based Violence
• Short-term technical assistance and capacity building

Specific achievements during his consultancies include:

Public health emergency planning

• In late 2025, mtwenty was commissioned to develop a comprehensive Multi-Agency Pandemic Preparedness Plan for Cumbria, and a Lessons Learned summary from the COVID-pandemic, incorporating insights from the recent Exercise Pegasus.
• Steve led the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) COVID analysis in Jordan, and on occasion advised the Minister of Health. His analysis correctly identified when a wave had peaked, which helped the Ministry of Health with planning for hospital inpatient peaks, typically two weeks later. 
• In 2021 he developed an Early Recovery Plan based on Key Informant interviews with the Ministry of Health, WHO, UN agencies, and NGO partners. This enabled USAID to apply lessons learned and make appropriate transitions back to their previous programmes, while still addressing key vulnerabilities linked to the pandemic.

Pandemic preparedness and response frameworks

• In July 2023, WHO had just conducted a formal Joint External Evaluation (JEE) of pandemic preparedness in Kyrgyzstan, based on the International Health Regulations. Steve led the multi-agency analysis of the findings of the JEE. He used this experience to then assist USAID/Haiti with their pandemic preparedness planning. 

Working with multi-agency systems

• Through his work at regional (NHS) and national level (Department of Health), Steve worked extensively across agencies and sectors. Between 2006 – 2010 Steve led over 60 multi-agency assessments, developing support plans with local authorities on issues such as teenage pregnancy, and with police forces, the NHS, other statutory bodies and the voluntary sector on the development of new Sexual Assault Referral Centres across England.

Proven ability to produce high-quality, strategic documents.

• Steve has extensive experience in producing high quality strategic documents. At the Department of Health, he commissioned, developed and edited “10 High Impact Changes for Genitourinary Medicine 48-hour Access”, which helped England achieve a maximum 48-hour waiting time. 
• In Cambodia he wrote a paper for WHO, which formed the basis of the country’s bid for £50m of HIV support from the Geneva-based Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.  
• In Afghanistan, he designed a new £170m maternal and child health programme, which included sufficient flexibility that large parts continued after the Taliban takeover in 2021.

Experience of participating in or facilitating multi-agency exercises.

• In July 2024 Haiti experienced an anthrax outbreak that resulted in two human deaths and 37 suspected cases. Steve led the collaboration and coordination for an international, multi-agency response, which contained the epidemic, evidenced by zero cases reported for five consecutive weeks. 
• In Jordan, Steve participated in frequent multi-agency meetings throughout the COVID pandemic. In mid-2020 he drafted a paper on COVID testing, which with the support and advocacy from WHO and CDC colleagues, was largely adopted by the Government of Jordan. 
• Prior to his international consultancies, Steve had five years’ experience of facilitating multi-agency meetings with NHS, local authority, police forces and third sector partners through two National Support Teams. 

He is a Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health (FRSPH), a Practitioner with the Faculty of Public Health, and a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute (FCMI). 

In 2013 he was awarded the Royal Order of Sahametrei medal of honour for services to HIV Prevention, Care and Treatment by the Government of Cambodia.