The health policy dialogue titled ‘Disrupting Health Care: PPPs as a Model Adoption for Health System Strengthening’ demonstrated how public-private partnerships (PPPs) could be used as a model to invest in healthcare infrastructure, and therefore enable governments to allocate scarce capital resources more effectively, improve health outcomes, and foster economic growth by reducing medical tourism. The aim of the policy dialogue was to have a wider discussion, gather a broader view of private sector engagement in healthcare and highlight ensuing benefits to the concerned entities.
The breakfast-styled meeting brought together people that were seeking innovative approaches to engaging with the health sector and those with experience having engaged in PPP arrangements in the healthcare sector. Nigeria Health Watch worked with PharmAccess to identify stakeholders from states that had entered into PPP arrangements. Speakers and panelists came from existing financial institutions that had partnered with PharmAccess Foundation and the Medical Credit Fund; Bank of Industry (BoI), GroFin and Sterling Bank. Stakeholders were drawn from the state and federal healthcare institutions where PharmAccess Foundation had partnered in PPPs to improve healthcare delivery, especially in states that needed to adopt different approaches following previous experiences.
Illustrations on how PPP approaches could be integrated into current healthcare delivery in Nigeria were
made. Specific challenges were identified, successful existing models brought to the fore, possibilities of scaling-up such models outlined, and stiff and unwarranted policies that were detrimental to healthcare were highlighted and solutions proffered. In summary, ideas were shared and people were inspired to adopt PPPs as a possible model to strengthen health systems in Nigeria. Find the report here!
