Publication: Assessment of the Private Health Sector in the Republic of Congo
Date
2012-09-11
ISSN
Published
2012-09-11
Author(s)
Makinen, Marty
Deville, Leo
Folsom, Amanda
Abstract
The private health sector was officially
recognized in the Republic of Congo over 20 years ago June
6, 1988, establishing the conditions for the independent
practice of medicine and the medical-related and
pharmaceutical professions. The Congolese government
recently expressed its commitment to working with the
private health sector in order to strengthen the health
system, improve the health of the population and preserve
the basic human right to a healthy life through the National
Health Care Policy, which it adopted in 2003, the 2007-2011
National Health Development Plan and the 2010 Health Care
Services Development Program. Throughout these various
documents there is an acknowledgement that the lack of
coordination with the private health sector is a weakness of
the health system. Nevertheless, the scarcity of information
about the private sector in policy and planning documents
suggests that the government's engagement with the
private health sector is limited. There is no official
government policy on the private health sector, or
strategies or working plans to encourage cooperation between
the public and private sectors. The objective of this
assessment was to better determine the role, position, and
importance of the private sector within the health system,
in order to identify the limitations to its development as
well as ways it can be integrated into the efforts to meet
the objectives of the Plan national de developpement
sanitaire (PNDS) [National Health Development Plan]. The
World Bank Group contracted with the Results for Development
Institute (R4D, United States) and Health Research for
Action (HERA, Belgium) as well as with a team of local
consultants, to conduct a 'study of the private health
sector in the Republic of Congo.' This study was
conducted in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health
and Population (MSP), which arranged and oversaw a steering
committee consisting of actors from the public and private
sectors to facilitate and guide the study. The goal of the
study and the workshops was a concrete plan of action for
the health sector that could be used by the Congolese
government, the private sector in the Republic of Congo, and
international development partners. Certain aspects of the
action plan should be included in the work programs of the
Programme de developpement des services de sante (PDSS)
[Health System Development Project] for the years 2011-2013.
Citation
“Makinen, Marty; Deville, Leo; Folsom, Amanda. 2012. Assessment of the Private Health Sector in the Republic of Congo. World Bank Study;. © Washington, DC: World Bank. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/b04cac85-87ed-504f-88c5-bef5bad93a54 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”