International Finance Corporation2012-03-192012-03-192011978-0-8213-8472-5https://hdl.handle.net/10986/2304Health systems across Africa are in urgent need of improvement. The public sector should not be expected to shoulder the burden of directly providing the needed services alone, nor can it, given the current realities of African health systems. Therefore to achieve necessary improvements, governments will need to rely more heavily on the private health sector. Indeed, private providers already play a significant role in the health sector in Africa and are expected to continue to play a key role, and private providers serve all income levels across sub- Saharan Africa's health systems. The World Health Organization (WHO) and others have identified improvements in the way governments interact with and make use of their private health sectors as one of the key ingredients to health systems improvements. Across the African region, many ministries of health are actively seeking to increase the contributions of the private health sector. However, relatively little is known about the details of engagement; that is, the roles and responsibilities of the players, and what works and what does not. A better understanding of the ways that governments and the private health sector work together and can work together more effectively is needed. This Report assesses and compares the ways in which African governments are engaging with their private health sectors. Engagement is defined, for the purposes of this report, to mean the deliberate, systematic collaboration of the government and the private health sector according to national health priorities, beyond individual interventions and programs. With effective engagement, one of the main constraints to better private sector contributions can be addressed, which in turn should improve the performance of health systems overall.CC BY 3.0 IGOABILITY TO PAYACCESS TO FAMILY PLANNINGACCESS TO SERVICESAGEDALLOCATION OF RESOURCESBABYBIRTH ATTENDANTBIRTH ATTENDANTSCENTER FOR HEALTHCESAREAN SECTIONCHILD CARECHILD HEALTHCHILDBIRTHCIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONSCLINICAL PRACTICECLINICSCOMMUNICABLE DISEASESCOMMUNITY HEALTHCOMPETITION AMONG PROVIDERSCONTRACEPTIONCRITICAL CAREDEATH RATEDEATHSDEVELOPING COUNTRIESDISEASE CONTROLDISPENSARIESDISSEMINATIONDOCTORSDRUGSEMERGENCIESEPIDEMICEXISTING RESOURCESFAMILY PLANNINGFINANCIAL INCENTIVESFINANCIAL INTERESTFINANCIAL RESOURCESFINANCING HEALTH CAREFINANCING OF HEALTH CAREFOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENTFRACTURESGLOBAL POPULATIONGROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCTHEALTH CAREHEALTH CARE ACCESSHEALTH CARE DELIVERYHEALTH CARE FACILITIESHEALTH CARE MARKETSHEALTH CARE PROVIDERHEALTH CARE PROVIDERSHEALTH CARE PROVISIONHEALTH CARE SECTORHEALTH CARE SERVICE DELIVERYHEALTH CARE SERVICESHEALTH CARE SPENDINGHEALTH CARE SYSTEMHEALTH CARE SYSTEMSHEALTH CENTERSHEALTH DATAHEALTH DATABASEHEALTH EXPENDITUREHEALTH EXPENDITURE BY SOURCEHEALTH FACILITIESHEALTH FINANCINGHEALTH INFORMATIONHEALTH INSURANCEHEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGEHEALTH INTERVENTIONSHEALTH MAINTENANCEHEALTH MAINTENANCE ORGANIZATIONHEALTH MANAGEMENTHEALTH ORGANIZATIONHEALTH ORGANIZATIONSHEALTH OUTCOMESHEALTH POLICYHEALTH PROVIDERSHEALTH PROVISIONHEALTH SECTORHEALTH SERVICEHEALTH SERVICE DELIVERYHEALTH SERVICE PROVIDERSHEALTH SERVICESHEALTH SYSTEMHEALTH SYSTEM PERFORMANCEHEALTH SYSTEMSHEALTH SYSTEMS STRENGTHENINGHEALTH WORKERSHEALTH-CAREHEALTH-CARE PROVIDERSHEALTH-CARE SERVICESHIVHMOHOSPITALHOSPITALSHUMAN IMMUNODEFICIENCY VIRUSHUMAN RIGHTILLNESSIMMUNIZATIONIMMUNODEFICIENCYIMPACT EVALUATIONSINCOMEINDEXESINFORMAL CAREINFORMAL SECTORINFORMATION SYSTEMSINTERMEDIARIESINTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONSINTERVENTIONLAWSLEGAL STATUSLIFE EXPECTANCYLIFE EXPECTANCY AT BIRTHLIVING STANDARDSMALARIAMATERNAL HEALTHMATERNAL MORTALITYMATERNAL MORTALITY RATIOMEASLESMEDICAL CAREMEDICAL EDUCATIONMEDICAL PERSONNELMEDICAL PROFESSIONALSMEDICAL STAFFMEDICAL SUPPLIESMEDICINESMIDWIFEMILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALSMINISTRIES OF HEALTHMINISTRY OF HEALTHMODERN FAMILYMODERN FAMILY PLANNINGMODERN FAMILY PLANNING METHODSMORTALITYMORTALITY RATENATIONAL GOVERNMENTSNATIONAL HEALTHNATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCENATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE FUNDNATIONAL HEALTH SYSTEMNATIONAL LEVELNATIONAL POLICIESNATURE OF HEALTHNONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONSNONPROFIT SECTORNURSESNUTRITIONOFFICIAL POLICYPATIENTPATIENTSPHARMACIESPHARMACISTSPHARMACYPHYSICIANPHYSICIANSPOCKET PAYMENTSPOLICY DISCUSSIONSPOLICY FRAMEWORKPOLICY MAKERSPOLITICAL PROCESSPOOR NUTRITIONPPMPRACTITIONERSPREGNANCYPREGNANT WOMENPRENATAL CAREPRIMARY CAREPRIVATE CAREPRIVATE CLINICSPRIVATE DOCTORSPRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCEPRIVATE HEALTH SERVICESPRIVATE HOSPITALSPRIVATE SECTORPRIVATE SECTORSPRIVATE SERVICESPROGRESSPROVISION OF CAREPROVISION OF HEALTH CAREPROVISION OF SERVICESPUBLIC HEALTHPUBLIC HEALTH CAREPUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAMSPUBLIC HEALTH SERVICESPUBLIC HEALTH SPENDINGPUBLIC HOSPITALSPUBLIC PROVIDERSPUBLIC PROVISIONPUBLIC SCHEMESPUBLIC SECTORPUBLIC SPENDINGQUALITY CONTROLQUALITY OF CAREQUALITY SERVICESREGULATORY FRAMEWORKSREPRODUCTIVE AGERESPECTRURAL POPULATIONSSERVICE PROVIDERSHARE OF HEALTH SPENDINGSKILLED ATTENDANTSSKILLED WORKERSSURGERYTECHNICAL ASSISTANCETETANUSTRADITIONAL BIRTH ATTENDANTTRADITIONAL HEALERSTUBERCULOSISTUBERCULOSIS CASESURBAN SLUMSVACCINESWALKINGWOMANWORKERSWORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATIONWorld Bank10.1596/978-0-8213-8472-5