July 2017: The US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine have released a prepublication titled, ‘Engaging the Private Sector and Developing Partnerships to Advance Health and the Sustainable Development Goals: Proceedings of a Workshop Series.’ The publication compiles summaries of a series of workshops organized by the Forum on Public–Private Partnerships for Global Health and Safety to examine opportunities to engage the private sector and develop partnerships to advance health and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The workshops convened in 2016, and considered the following topics: health and private-sector engagement in the context of the SDGs; public-sector strategies and plans for sustainable development; potential strategies and approaches for private-sector engagement in the SDGs; the enabling environment for effective partnerships in health and the SDGs; and lessons from developing and implementing health-focused partnerships.
Speakers at the workshops included: David Nabarro, special advisor to the UN Secretary-General on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Climate Change; Pedro Conceição, UN Development Programme (UNDP); Mark Malloch-Brown, chair of the Commission on Business and Sustainable Development; Marcel Mballa-Ekobena, private equity investor in African markets; Ambassador Geir Pedersen of Norway; Alexander Schulze of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC); Kira Fortune, Pan American Health Organization; Christian Acemah, Uganda National Academy of Sciences; Ann Aerts, Novartis Foundation; and Susanne Stormer, Novo Nordisk. Rachel M. Taylor, Priyanka Nalamada, and Katherine Perez, served as Rapporteurs for the workshops.
On the question of health and private-sector engagement, speakers emphasized, inter alia: that health is an input and outcome of development and integral to the SDG agenda; health issues need to be considered across the Goals; private capital and private-sector innovation are necessary to implement the SDGs; and private-sector engagement in development and the SDGs requires responsible, inclusive business models.
On the question of measuring development beyond gross domestic product (GDP), speakers proposed additional indicators such as inequality, self-reported well-being, profit, job growth or the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
On public sector plans and strategies for sustainable development, speakers highlighted that SDG implementation will be driven at the regional, national, and local levels, while strong national leadership of national priorities and plans can drive policy coherence across government sectors. They noted that the public sector needs to create an enabling environment for achieving the SDGs through incentive structures and regulation, and that the private sector seeks clarity from the public sector through its priority setting, development of incentives and implementation of regulations.
Speakers suggested that weak regulatory systems threaten the achievement of the SDGs.
On an enabling environment for effective partnerships, speakers suggested that weak regulatory systems threaten the achievement of the SDGs. The said that accountability for the safety and efficacy in health should be shared by public and private stakeholders, and mechanisms for accountability are needed at every stage of private-sector engagement. In addition, standardized accountability reporting offers a chance to compare and contrast progress.
On lessons from developing and implementing health-related partnerships, speakers noted that public-private partnerships (PPPs) should fit into a country’s existing policies and legal framework, and successful partnerships include “eager governments, an organization or international nongovernmental organization that is willing to break the mold, and private-sector companies willing to take risks.” Examples discussed included PEPFAR, the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, and a partnership between Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and the United Parcel Service (UPS). [Publication: Engaging the Private Sector and Developing Partnerships to Advance Health and the Sustainable Development Goals: Proceedings of a Workshop Series]