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Finding Middle Ground: Making Better Use of the African Private Health Sector Through More Effective Regulations

Governments in sub-Saharan Africa face many complex and difficult challenges in meeting the health needs of their populations. Although sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 11 percent of the world's population and 24 percent of the global burden of disease, the region commands less than 1 percent of global health expenditures (WHO, 2006). To improve public health, African governments must marshal all the resources available in the health sector - public and private alike. African governments and donors increasingly recognize that achieving equity in access to health care requires engaging the commercial and non-profit private health sector through partnerships. Africa's public and private sectors both have roles to play in expanding access to priority health services to underserved populations. The government must play an active role as a steward, facilitating public-private collaboration through an enabling policy environment. An effective regulatory framework that encourages greater private sector participation in public health is a balancing act: it must consider the market realities of the private health sector while at the same time ensuring expanded coverage of quality health services.