From informal chemical vendors in India, to the information technology that empowers midwives through the 1000+ islands of the Philippines, the reach and scope of the private sector in community health is diverse, broad and significant.

On May 27th, 2008, the Abt Associates-led Private Sector Partnerships One project (PSP-One) explored the far reaching ways in which the private sector is an essential contributor to community health. Participants from Merck & Co, the Integrated Midwives Association of the Philippines, the PSP-One Project in India, as well as Voxiva and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) shared with Global Health Conference participants, the innovations of the private sector in reaching communities. These private sector actors are empowering the urban and rural poor through diverse programs such as peer education for HIV/AIDS, while also ensuring access to better reproductive health services, medicine, nutrition, and health information.

Lessons learned from these presenters revealed the non-traditional ways in which companies are investing in the health of communities where they operate. In Uganda and South Africa, Merck & Co. is investing in slums for behavioral changing peer education and assistance for those living with the disease.

The Filipino midwives are embracing changing trends in cell phone technology, community based health insurance, and revenues earned abroad to open their own private practices to tackle child and maternal mortality. Voxiva uses the expanding reach of the 3.5 billion mobile phone market to empower health information systems in more than 14 countries worldwide. As this market increases by 3 million phones per day (with most of this increase occurring in the developing world), the platform for collecting critical health data is making health information count in unprecedented ways as health workers see real-time responses to their disease reporting and procurement needs.

GAIN’s work with Dannon in Bangladesh shows how entrepreneurial activity at the Base of the Pyramid can produce real health and nutritional benefits. Dannon’s nutritionally packed, individually packaged foods are truly affordable (costing less than 0.001) and accessible to the poorest of the poor.

In sum, the discussion on the private sector is indeed diverse, far reaching and broad. Yet, the interventions share many common themes. The success of each of these interventions has been due to the efforts of business to restructure their practices to meet the needs of the poor. Through engaging once alienated communities, companies have reshaped their fundamental business practices, bringing unprecedented access to health goods, services and information to poor, sustainably.

Presentations and Panelists:

Panel 1: Private Sector Providers: The Critical Link for Community Health

1. Filipino Midwives Reaching out to Communities Patricia Gomez, President, Integrated Midwives Association, Philippines
   Download the Presentation (PDF/951KB)
2. Working with Traditional Providers in Improving Health Outcomes in India Sanjeev Vyas, Program Director, PSP-One India/Abt Associates
   Download the Presentation (PDF/2.05MB)

Panel 2: Corporate Engagement: Working with Communities to Improve Health

1. Harnessing IT for Community Health Paul Meyer, Co-Founder, Chairman and President, Voxiva
   Download the Presentation(PDF 4.41MB)
2. Enabling Communities to Improve Health: Two African HIV/AIDS Case Studies Rihanna Kola, Director, Global HIV/AIDS Programs, Merck & Co.
   Download the Presentation (PDF/589KB)
3. Business Strategies for Reaching the Poor Dr. Berangere Magarinos, Senior Manager, Investments and Partnerships Program, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition
   Download the Presentation (PDF/212KB)
Related Materials
• Download the Panelists Biographies (PDF/136KB)
• Download the Conference Agenda (PDF/105KB)
• Download Official Expert Panel Event Invitation(PDF/294KB)