PSP-One Builds Capacity of Nigerian Health Officials to Create Public-Private Partnerships

In May 2008, the Abt Associates-led PSP-One project hosted a regional policy workshop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for Ministry of Health (MOH) officials in six sub-Saharan African countries in order to promote public-private partnerships (PPPs) to expand health outcomes. Building off the success of the regional workshop, PSP-One hosted a country-level workshop in Abuja, Nigeria March 31 – April 3, 2009. The event, entitled Building Public-Private Linkages for Better Health in Nigeria, focused on tools available to MOHs to engage the private sector. The curriculum featured sessions on regulating the private sector, contracting, financing, and quality improvement, among others. Over 50 key participants from the public and private sectors at the federal level and five states in Nigeria (Enugu, Kano, Jigawa, Kaduna, and Lagos) attended.

The workshop also included a panel discussion on private health insurance in Nigeria, specifically the National Health Insurance Scheme, which was moderated by Alex Preker of the World Bank. Another panel featured examples of successful PPPs in Nigeria. Each state team met several times to discuss priority health issues within their states and selected a combination of approaches to design feasible PPPs. At the end of the workshop, each state presented their action plans, which were critiqued by other participants. A workshop communiqué was written by the participants and will be used as an additional advocacy tool within the state governments.