HIGHLIGHTS
- Too often the private sector is overlooked or not fully integrated into the health system.
- The Abt-led SHOPS Plus project works globally to catalyze public-private engagement.
- Last year, SHOPS Plus partnered with the private sector to achieve over 467,000 couple years of protection to avert unintended pregnancies.
The Challenge
The private sector is a key provider of priority health-care services. But too often it is overlooked or not fully integrated into the health system. The public sector frequently does not have accurate information about the size and scope of the private health sector. Private providers operate independently and are not organized into associations or networks. They lack access to training and financing. Many vulnerable people use the private sector as their first stop when they are sick, so building private-sector capacity is a big opportunity to improve health outcomes.
The Results
SHOPS Plus seeks to harness the full potential of the private sector and catalyze public-private engagement to improve health outcomes. In the past year, the project partnered with the private sector to improve the distribution and delivery of a wide range of products and services resulting in over 467,000 couple years of protection to avert unintended pregnancies, over 412,000 cases of childhood diarrhea treated with zinc and oral rehydration solution, and nearly 96 million liters of drinking water treated with chlorine water treatment solution. SHOPS Plus implemented social and behavior change communication campaigns that leveraged mass media, digital health, and interpersonal communication to reach over 33 million consumers with health messages. The project also worked to facilitate sound and rational partnerships between sectors and build the capacity of governments to steward the private sector. With this goal in mind, the project conducted a scan of legal and regulatory challenges to further engage pharmacies and drug shops in family planning service delivery, brokered a public-private partnership to increase access to family planning commodities, and helped expand private sector reporting of data into national health management information systems in Senegal, Kenya and Nigeria.
Related:
Public-Private Partnerships for Family Planning Commodities
Leveraging the Private Health Sector to Expand the HIV/AIDS Workforce