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Experience of contracting with the private sector

The public sector can potentially influence the private sector to provide more cost-effective health care interventions in a number of ways, one of which is through contracting of private providers using public finance. However there are few documented examples of contracting arrangements which focus specifically on the poor. This paper reviews experiences of social agencies contracting with the private sector to provide health care services, and focuses on the capacity of this mechanism to improve access to services by the poor.