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. 2008 Nov 25;5(11):e233.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.0050233.

Is private health care the answer to the health problems of the world's poor?

Kara Hanson  1 , Lucy Gilson, Catherine Goodman, Anne Mills, Richard Smith, Richard Feachem, Neelam Sekhri Feachem, Tracey Perez Koehlmoos, Heather Kinlaw
Affiliations

Is private health care the answer to the health problems of the world's poor?

Kara Hanson et al. PLoS Med. .

Abstract

The global burden of disease falls disproportionately upon the world's low-income countries, which are often struggling with weak health systems. Both the public and private sector deliver health care in these countries, but the appropriate role for each of these sectors in health system strengthening remains controversial. This debate examines whether the private sector should step up its involvement in the health systems of low-income countries.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: KH, LG, CG, and AM have declared that they have no competing interests. RS is the Director of the Ovations Chronic Disease Initiative, a corporate social responsibility campaign that funds eight centers in low- and middle-income countries to respond to chronic disease. Ovations is part of the UnitedHealth Group, a for-profit health and wellbeing company that operates in 40 countries. RS has stock in UnitedHealth Group. RS is also a member of the board of the Public Library of Science. RF leads the Global Health Group, an action tank at the University of California San Francisco, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and ExxonMobil. The Global Health Group is in part dedicated to the understanding and development of the role of the private sector in health systems strengthening. RF also advises public and private organizations on this topic. RF is married to NSF. NSF is the founder and Chief Executive of The Healthcare Redesign Group, a for-profit consultancy dedicated to assisting governments and private clients to improve access to, and quality of, health services around the world. NSF was formerly Health Financing Advisor at the World Health Organization, has served on the Commercial Advisory Board of the UK National Health Service, and has held executive positions with Kaiser Permanente. NSF is married to RF. TPK is the Programme Head for Health and Family Planning Systems at ICDDR,B, a center of excellence for health and population research based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. ICDDR,B works closely with the public and non-state sectors and the interface between the two on a national and global level. TPK leads a Centre for Systematic Review that focuses on health systems and policy issues in the non-state sector in low- and middle-income countries. HK is Program Coordinator, Health Systems Initiative for the Global Health Group.

References

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