Cargando…

The Role of the Private Sector in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Experiences From Four Health Systems

As societies urbanize, their populations have become increasingly dependent on the private sector for essential services. The way the private sector responds to health emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic can determine the health and economic wellbeing of urban populations, an effect amplified...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Wallace, Lauren J., Agyepong, Irene, Baral, Sushil, Barua, Deepa, Das, Mahua, Huque, Rumana, Joshi, Deepak, Mbachu, Chinyere, Naznin, Baby, Nonvignon, Justice, Ofosu, Anthony, Onwujekwe, Obinna, Sharma, Shreeman, Quayyum, Zahidul, Ensor, Tim, Elsey, Helen
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9195628/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35712320
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.878225
_version_ 1784727007801638912
author Wallace, Lauren J.
Agyepong, Irene
Baral, Sushil
Barua, Deepa
Das, Mahua
Huque, Rumana
Joshi, Deepak
Mbachu, Chinyere
Naznin, Baby
Nonvignon, Justice
Ofosu, Anthony
Onwujekwe, Obinna
Sharma, Shreeman
Quayyum, Zahidul
Ensor, Tim
Elsey, Helen
author_facet Wallace, Lauren J.
Agyepong, Irene
Baral, Sushil
Barua, Deepa
Das, Mahua
Huque, Rumana
Joshi, Deepak
Mbachu, Chinyere
Naznin, Baby
Nonvignon, Justice
Ofosu, Anthony
Onwujekwe, Obinna
Sharma, Shreeman
Quayyum, Zahidul
Ensor, Tim
Elsey, Helen
author_sort Wallace, Lauren J.
collection PubMed
description As societies urbanize, their populations have become increasingly dependent on the private sector for essential services. The way the private sector responds to health emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic can determine the health and economic wellbeing of urban populations, an effect amplified for poorer communities. Here we present a qualitative document analysis of media reports and policy documents in four low resource settings-Bangladesh, Ghana, Nepal, Nigeria-between January and September 2020. The review focuses on two questions: (i) Who are the private sector actors who have engaged in the COVID-19 first wave response and what was their role?; and (ii) How have national and sub-national governments engaged in, and with, the private sector response and what have been the effects of these engagements? Three main roles of the private sector were identified in the review. (1) Providing resources to support the public health response. (2) Mitigating the financial impact of the pandemic on individuals and businesses. (3) Adjustment of services delivered by the private sector, within and beyond the health sector, to respond to pandemic-related business challenges and opportunities. The findings suggest that a combination of public-private partnerships, contracting, and regulation have been used by governments to influence private sector involvement. Government strategies to engage the private sector developed quickly, reflecting the importance of private services to populations. However, implementation of regulatory responses, especially in the health sector, has often been weak reflecting the difficulty governments have in ensuring affordable, quality private services. Lessons for future pandemics and other health emergencies include the need to ensure that essential non-pandemic health services in the government and non-government sector can continue despite elevated risks, surge capacity to minimize shortages of vital public health supplies is available, and plans are in place to ensure private workplaces remain safe and livelihoods protected.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-9195628
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-91956282022-06-15 The Role of the Private Sector in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Experiences From Four Health Systems Wallace, Lauren J. Agyepong, Irene Baral, Sushil Barua, Deepa Das, Mahua Huque, Rumana Joshi, Deepak Mbachu, Chinyere Naznin, Baby Nonvignon, Justice Ofosu, Anthony Onwujekwe, Obinna Sharma, Shreeman Quayyum, Zahidul Ensor, Tim Elsey, Helen Front Public Health Public Health As societies urbanize, their populations have become increasingly dependent on the private sector for essential services. The way the private sector responds to health emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic can determine the health and economic wellbeing of urban populations, an effect amplified for poorer communities. Here we present a qualitative document analysis of media reports and policy documents in four low resource settings-Bangladesh, Ghana, Nepal, Nigeria-between January and September 2020. The review focuses on two questions: (i) Who are the private sector actors who have engaged in the COVID-19 first wave response and what was their role?; and (ii) How have national and sub-national governments engaged in, and with, the private sector response and what have been the effects of these engagements? Three main roles of the private sector were identified in the review. (1) Providing resources to support the public health response. (2) Mitigating the financial impact of the pandemic on individuals and businesses. (3) Adjustment of services delivered by the private sector, within and beyond the health sector, to respond to pandemic-related business challenges and opportunities. The findings suggest that a combination of public-private partnerships, contracting, and regulation have been used by governments to influence private sector involvement. Government strategies to engage the private sector developed quickly, reflecting the importance of private services to populations. However, implementation of regulatory responses, especially in the health sector, has often been weak reflecting the difficulty governments have in ensuring affordable, quality private services. Lessons for future pandemics and other health emergencies include the need to ensure that essential non-pandemic health services in the government and non-government sector can continue despite elevated risks, surge capacity to minimize shortages of vital public health supplies is available, and plans are in place to ensure private workplaces remain safe and livelihoods protected. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-05-27 /pmc/articles/PMC9195628/ /pubmed/35712320 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.878225 Text en Copyright © 2022 Wallace, Agyepong, Baral, Barua, Das, Huque, Joshi, Mbachu, Naznin, Nonvignon, Ofosu, Onwujekwe, Sharma, Quayyum, Ensor and Elsey. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Public Health
Wallace, Lauren J.
Agyepong, Irene
Baral, Sushil
Barua, Deepa
Das, Mahua
Huque, Rumana
Joshi, Deepak
Mbachu, Chinyere
Naznin, Baby
Nonvignon, Justice
Ofosu, Anthony
Onwujekwe, Obinna
Sharma, Shreeman
Quayyum, Zahidul
Ensor, Tim
Elsey, Helen
The Role of the Private Sector in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Experiences From Four Health Systems
title The Role of the Private Sector in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Experiences From Four Health Systems
title_full The Role of the Private Sector in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Experiences From Four Health Systems
title_fullStr The Role of the Private Sector in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Experiences From Four Health Systems
title_full_unstemmed The Role of the Private Sector in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Experiences From Four Health Systems
title_short The Role of the Private Sector in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Experiences From Four Health Systems
title_sort role of the private sector in the covid-19 pandemic: experiences from four health systems
topic Public Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9195628/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35712320
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.878225
work_keys_str_mv AT wallacelaurenj theroleoftheprivatesectorinthecovid19pandemicexperiencesfromfourhealthsystems
AT agyepongirene theroleoftheprivatesectorinthecovid19pandemicexperiencesfromfourhealthsystems
AT baralsushil theroleoftheprivatesectorinthecovid19pandemicexperiencesfromfourhealthsystems
AT baruadeepa theroleoftheprivatesectorinthecovid19pandemicexperiencesfromfourhealthsystems
AT dasmahua theroleoftheprivatesectorinthecovid19pandemicexperiencesfromfourhealthsystems
AT huquerumana theroleoftheprivatesectorinthecovid19pandemicexperiencesfromfourhealthsystems
AT joshideepak theroleoftheprivatesectorinthecovid19pandemicexperiencesfromfourhealthsystems
AT mbachuchinyere theroleoftheprivatesectorinthecovid19pandemicexperiencesfromfourhealthsystems
AT nazninbaby theroleoftheprivatesectorinthecovid19pandemicexperiencesfromfourhealthsystems
AT nonvignonjustice theroleoftheprivatesectorinthecovid19pandemicexperiencesfromfourhealthsystems
AT ofosuanthony theroleoftheprivatesectorinthecovid19pandemicexperiencesfromfourhealthsystems
AT onwujekweobinna theroleoftheprivatesectorinthecovid19pandemicexperiencesfromfourhealthsystems
AT sharmashreeman theroleoftheprivatesectorinthecovid19pandemicexperiencesfromfourhealthsystems
AT quayyumzahidul theroleoftheprivatesectorinthecovid19pandemicexperiencesfromfourhealthsystems
AT ensortim theroleoftheprivatesectorinthecovid19pandemicexperiencesfromfourhealthsystems
AT elseyhelen theroleoftheprivatesectorinthecovid19pandemicexperiencesfromfourhealthsystems
AT wallacelaurenj roleoftheprivatesectorinthecovid19pandemicexperiencesfromfourhealthsystems
AT agyepongirene roleoftheprivatesectorinthecovid19pandemicexperiencesfromfourhealthsystems
AT baralsushil roleoftheprivatesectorinthecovid19pandemicexperiencesfromfourhealthsystems
AT baruadeepa roleoftheprivatesectorinthecovid19pandemicexperiencesfromfourhealthsystems
AT dasmahua roleoftheprivatesectorinthecovid19pandemicexperiencesfromfourhealthsystems
AT huquerumana roleoftheprivatesectorinthecovid19pandemicexperiencesfromfourhealthsystems
AT joshideepak roleoftheprivatesectorinthecovid19pandemicexperiencesfromfourhealthsystems
AT mbachuchinyere roleoftheprivatesectorinthecovid19pandemicexperiencesfromfourhealthsystems
AT nazninbaby roleoftheprivatesectorinthecovid19pandemicexperiencesfromfourhealthsystems
AT nonvignonjustice roleoftheprivatesectorinthecovid19pandemicexperiencesfromfourhealthsystems
AT ofosuanthony roleoftheprivatesectorinthecovid19pandemicexperiencesfromfourhealthsystems
AT onwujekweobinna roleoftheprivatesectorinthecovid19pandemicexperiencesfromfourhealthsystems
AT sharmashreeman roleoftheprivatesectorinthecovid19pandemicexperiencesfromfourhealthsystems
AT quayyumzahidul roleoftheprivatesectorinthecovid19pandemicexperiencesfromfourhealthsystems
AT ensortim roleoftheprivatesectorinthecovid19pandemicexperiencesfromfourhealthsystems
AT elseyhelen roleoftheprivatesectorinthecovid19pandemicexperiencesfromfourhealthsystems