Do private health providers help achieve Universal Health Coverage? A scoping review of the evidence from low-income countries

Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is the dominant paradigm in health systems research, positing that everyone should have access to a range of affordable health services. Although private providers are an integral part of world health systems, their contribution to achieving UHC is unclear, particularly in low-income countries (LICs). We scoped the literature to map out the evidence on private providers’ contribution to UHC progress in LICs. Literature searches of PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science were conducted in 2022. A total of 1049 documents published between 2002 and 2022 were screened for eligibility using predefined inclusion criteria, focusing on formal as well as informal private health sectors in 27 LICs. Primary qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods evidence was included, as well as original analysis of secondary data. The Joanna Briggs Institute’s critical appraisal tool was used to assess the quality of the studies. Relevant evidence was extracted and analysed using an adapted UHC framework. We identified 34 papers documenting how most basic health care services are already provided through the private sector in countries such as Uganda, Afghanistan and Somalia. A substantial proportion of primary care, mother, child and malaria services are available through non-public providers across all 27 LICs. Evidence exists that while formal private providers mostly operate in well-served urban settings, informal and not-for-profit ones cater for underserved rural and urban areas. Nonetheless, there is evidence that the quality of the services by informal providers is suboptimal. A few studies suggested that the private sector fails to advance financial protection against ill-health, as costs are higher than in public facilities and services are paid out of pocket. We conclude that despite their shortcomings, working with informal private providers to increase quality and financing of their services may be key to realizing UHC in LICs.