Public-private partnerships for health: their main targets, their diversity, and their future directions

The global burden of disease, especially the part attributable to infectious diseases, disproportionately affects populations in developing countries. Inadequate access to pharmaceuticals plays a role in perpetuating this disparity. Drugs and vaccines may not be accessible because of weak distributi...

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Main Author: Widdus Roy
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: The World Health Organization 2001-01-01
Series:Bulletin of the World Health Organization
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0042-96862001000800006
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author Widdus Roy
author_facet Widdus Roy
author_sort Widdus Roy
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description The global burden of disease, especially the part attributable to infectious diseases, disproportionately affects populations in developing countries. Inadequate access to pharmaceuticals plays a role in perpetuating this disparity. Drugs and vaccines may not be accessible because of weak distribution infrastructures or because development of the desired products has been neglected. This situation can be tackled with push interventions to lower the costs and risks of product development for industry, with pull interventions providing economic and market incentives, and with the creation of infrastructures allowing products to be put into use. If appropriately motivated, pharmaceutical companies can bring to partnerships expertise in product development, production process development, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution - all of which are lacking in the public sector. A large variety of public-private partnerships, combining the skills and resources of a wide range of collaborators, have arisen for product development, disease control through product donation and distribution, or the general strengthening or coordination of health services. Administratively, such partnerships may either involve affiliation with international organizations, i.e. they are essentially public-sector programmes with private-sector participation, or they may be legally independent not-for-profit bodies. These partnerships should be regarded as social experiments; they show promise but are not a panacea. New ventures should be built on need, appropriateness, and lessons on good practice learnt from experience. Suggestions are made for public, private, and joint activities that could help to improve the access of poor populations to the pharmaceuticals and health services they need.
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spelling doaj.art-af947f94dcff473eb9600390c38f3b922024-03-02T01:57:27ZengThe World Health OrganizationBulletin of the World Health Organization0042-96862001-01-01798713720Public-private partnerships for health: their main targets, their diversity, and their future directionsWiddus RoyThe global burden of disease, especially the part attributable to infectious diseases, disproportionately affects populations in developing countries. Inadequate access to pharmaceuticals plays a role in perpetuating this disparity. Drugs and vaccines may not be accessible because of weak distribution infrastructures or because development of the desired products has been neglected. This situation can be tackled with push interventions to lower the costs and risks of product development for industry, with pull interventions providing economic and market incentives, and with the creation of infrastructures allowing products to be put into use. If appropriately motivated, pharmaceutical companies can bring to partnerships expertise in product development, production process development, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution - all of which are lacking in the public sector. A large variety of public-private partnerships, combining the skills and resources of a wide range of collaborators, have arisen for product development, disease control through product donation and distribution, or the general strengthening or coordination of health services. Administratively, such partnerships may either involve affiliation with international organizations, i.e. they are essentially public-sector programmes with private-sector participation, or they may be legally independent not-for-profit bodies. These partnerships should be regarded as social experiments; they show promise but are not a panacea. New ventures should be built on need, appropriateness, and lessons on good practice learnt from experience. Suggestions are made for public, private, and joint activities that could help to improve the access of poor populations to the pharmaceuticals and health services they need.http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0042-96862001000800006Intersectoral cooperationPublic sectorDrug industryPharmaceutical preparations/supply and distributionSocial justiceMotivationForecasting
spellingShingle Widdus Roy
Public-private partnerships for health: their main targets, their diversity, and their future directions
Bulletin of the World Health Organization
Intersectoral cooperation
Public sector
Drug industry
Pharmaceutical preparations/supply and distribution
Social justice
Motivation
Forecasting
title Public-private partnerships for health: their main targets, their diversity, and their future directions
title_full Public-private partnerships for health: their main targets, their diversity, and their future directions
title_fullStr Public-private partnerships for health: their main targets, their diversity, and their future directions
title_full_unstemmed Public-private partnerships for health: their main targets, their diversity, and their future directions
title_short Public-private partnerships for health: their main targets, their diversity, and their future directions
title_sort public private partnerships for health their main targets their diversity and their future directions
topic Intersectoral cooperation
Public sector
Drug industry
Pharmaceutical preparations/supply and distribution
Social justice
Motivation
Forecasting
url http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0042-96862001000800006
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