Private Sector

Recent experiences in the countries with the largest outbreaks demonstrate that private sector capacity can play a crucial role in the response effort. To effectively address COVID-19, it would be essential to partner with and leverage the private sector, which represents a sizeable share in the health systems of many countries and has a huge potential in delivering services (through private facilities, outpatient services, traditional healers, faith-based organizations, private laboratories). However, the private sector has not been leveraged effectively as a platform to deliver COVID-19 tools and major gaps remain in protecting private health workers. Partnering with the private health sector requires governments to be creative in the types of partnerships adopted, flexible in their application of regulations; and strategic in their attempts to cover the costs.

The goal is to produce rapid, real-time, evidence-based, tailored support to countries to improve private sector engagement and strengthen service delivery and access to COVID-19 tools. This workstream focuses on efforts to facilitate private sector engagement, it will facilitate conducting private sector mapping, identifying institutional capacity needs for better private sector engagement, and incentivizing the development of comprehensive private sector engagement strategies through small top-up grants for World Bank-financed projects.

LIST OF RESOURCES:

•  How COVID-19 (coronavirus) affects private health care providers in developing countries

•  Mobilizing the private sector for an equal and rapid COVID-19 vaccine rollout

•  Resources Portal on Public Financial Management for Health