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Private Sector Participation in Health

The study focuses on how engagement with the private sector can improve access to and uptake of quality and appropriate health services by the poor, and identifies approaches to promote private sector engagement. It reviews the mechanisms for working with the private sector, including contracting, franchising, social marketing and regulation (supply side) and vouchers, insurance and micro-credit (demand side). These mechanisms are analyzed against different criteria including impact on health outcomes, quality of care, and household expenditure on health. The study also looks at the feasibility for scaling up a given effort in terms of the regulatory environment, financial costs, risk factors, legal and administrative barriers and opportunity for public partnerships.