World Bank recommends private sector participation

by Harry Yemti

A report by the International Finance Corporation, a World Bank subsidiary, says that a well-managed and effectively regulated private sector health system could be a panacea to health delivery problems in sub-Saharan Africa
Health care in most of Sub-Saharan Africa remains the worst in the world, despite decades of enormous foreign financial, material and human resource assistance.

The private sector department of the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) has reported that very few countries are able to spend the required World Health Organisation (WHO) minimum standard of 30 to 40 dollars per person per year for health care.

The IFC report, published recently, observes that in spite of billions of dollars from international donors, a disturbing 50 percent of sub-Saharan Africa’s health expenditure is done through out-of-pocket payments from its largely impoverished population.

In addition, the region lacks the infrastructure, facilities and trained personnel needed to provide even minimal levels of health services, the report notes.

To the IFC, the private sector has a critical role to play if sub-Saharan Africans must have more and better quality health care.

A study conducted by the IFC shows that an estimated 25 to 30 billion dollars will have to be invested in health care in the region over the next decade for the provision of over half a million additional hospital beds, training of about 90,000 more physicians, 500,000 nurses, and 300,000 community health workers, and to create better production and distribution facilities for pharmaceuticals and medical supplies.

The study shows that it would take a combined effort of both public and private sectors to reverse existing trends.

And even though the report finds that the private sector already delivers about half of Africa’s health care needs, it calls for a closer partnership with the public sector and a better-managed and effectively regulated private initiative.
Already most Sub-Saharan Africans prefer private hospitals because of their staff courtesy, convenience, quality service, availability and shorter waiting periods, says the report.

The report also highlights the role of the private sector in bringing significant improvements to health services to Africa’s poorest people and in reducing the financial burden on governments.

The report recommends that impediments to a productive private health care sector should be eliminated, burdensome regulations scrapped, increased access to capital and personnel training be facilitated, and risk-pooling mechanisms like health insurance services be encouraged.