Private sector participation in health
November 2004
How can engagement with the private sector improve access to good quality, affordable and appropriate health services by the poor?
This resource provides an overview of a range of approaches to strengthening the public-private sector interface, in order to scale up coverage with affordable and quality-assured health services and commodities.
The resource is in five parts:
1) An overview of the current situation, with a summary assessment of a range of approaches to strengthening public-private sector engagement, and an outline of suggestions for governments and development partners.
2) The context: What do people spend on private sector health care? What do we know about the health care seeking behaviour of the poor? What are the formal frameworks for public engagement with the private sector? Are governments prepared to make a significant shift of resources to the private sector?
3) A review of some of the main initiatives used to engage private sector service suppliers in improving the services they provide, in increasing access to them by the poor, and suitability for dinor involvement:
- Demand side: vouchers, insurance and micro-credit schemes.
- Supply side: contracting, social franchising, social marketing, and working with unlicensed providers.
- Recent experience with public-private partnerships for developing infrastructure.
4) Four case studies:
- The Nicaragua voucher scheme
- The Greenstar franchise network, Pakistan
- Social marketing for malaria prevention, Tanzania
- Contracting in Cambodia
5) An extensive list of references and weblinks.
Private Sector Participation in Health is drawn from desk-based research commissioned by KfW in 2004, aimed at identifying promising approaches to promote engagement with the private health care sector in the course of bilateral development assistance. The Institute team was led by Dr Ken Grant and Veronica Walford, with further technical contributions by Nel Druce, Roger England, Cheri Grace, Claudia Sambo and Dan Whitaker. |