Who we are
- A Global South-led mutual learning platform,
with core partners including Centre for
Sustainable Health Innovations, Public Health Foundation of India, Amref Health
Africa and Institute of Development Studies Sussex.
- Working with collaborators in private sector,
governments, research institutions,
funders and international agencies.
- The platform's work has been supported by
supporters including FCDO (through
RED's COVID Collective project), Amref Health Africa, and the USAID-funded
Frontiers Health Markets (FHM) Engage, amongst others.
Broad Objectives
- Contribute to the global movement for strengthening mixed health systems to achieve UHC through mutual learning between stakeholders within and across countries.
- Experiment with new engagement models with the private and technology sector in assessing strategies for health innovation integration and scale
- Convene and develop new kinds of partnerships with researchers, private sector, civil society, governments and other stakeholders for evidence generation to inform learning and adaptation in mixed health systems
- Apply multidisciplinary evidence and expertise to inform and understand the role of technology in facilitating health system solutions
- Engage researchers as an intersection between, knowledge and training around health systems and technology partners, designers and implementers who drive solutions
How
- Offer a network of skilled researchers and
collaborating organizations to sectors to
monitor, evaluate and document novel private sector engagement models for scale
and sustainability. This will involve new kinds of partnership between researchers
and governments, regulators, private companies, citizen groups that generates new
kinds of evidence on partnerships and mechanisms of engagement.
- Use rapid, adaptive and collaborative learning
methodologies along with evidence
from implementation and research to identify pressing and difficult questions around
working/engaging with the private sector
Mutual Learning and Engagement of Mixed Health Systems
The COVID-19 pandemic has catalysed engagement and new partnerships between the
private health sector and the state to augment health system capacity. Governments and the
private sector are creating new ways to collaborate to protect and improve population
health.
Rapid learning about this collaboration and “what works and how” could help to optimize
these engagements. Yet, there continues to be a lack of clear mechanisms for government,
the private sector, funders/donors and researchers to collaborate and support rapid
learning.
Discussions explored new kinds of partnership between the private health sector and the
state that have been established before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and
demonstrated the feasibility and demand for a Platform for Mutual Learning and
Engagement of Mixed Health Systems to support more effective contribution of
the private
sector to national strategies for equitable health models. These concern provision of health
services, governance and regulation, improved access to diagnostics, AI-based
telemedicine, technology-based supply chains, digital surveillance and tracking and private
equity funds to scale last miles gaps through technological innovations.
A key learning was that the role of researchers and of research organisations needs
to change from that of observers to that of partners in the creation of a mixed health
system that can ensure access to safe, effective and affordable health services. This
will involve research that supports change processes over an extended period.
Digital Health Ecosystems
While an initial set of consultations in India, Vietnam and Rwanda explored innovative
approaches for government engagement with the private sector aimed at accelerating
progress towards universal health coverage, they also highlighted a growing interest in the
potential role of digital innovation. CSHI, PHFI and IDS then led additional consultations
focusing on digital health: online meetings on lessons from the response to the Covid-19
crisis; panel discussions focusing on Asia’s rapid development of digital health, digital
health
equity; and high-level panel discussions with leaders in digital innovation and health
system
strengthening. These discussions identified the following issues:
- Most participating countries had mixed health
systems in which private providers
contributed to the response to Covid-19 pandemic, but many lacked effective
governance arrangements to ensure the provision of services that are accessible to all
population groups.
- There was a recognition of the rapidity of
development of digital health and that it was
time to move past proof-of-concept projects towards the incorporation of innovations
into strategies for health system strengthening at scale, involving new types of
collaboration between the public sector and companies with expertise in digital health.
- It became apparent that there is a big
difference in the understanding and perspectives
of stakeholders: technology innovators had limited insight into the organisation and
governance arrangements of health systems and health policymakers had little
understanding about the digital health industry and the factors that influence the
emergence and rapid introduction of innovations.
- There is little evidence of the involvement of
citizen groups in discussions about digital
transformation of health systems.
