At The African Leadership Meeting, Development Expert Barr. Tagbo Agbazue, Others Call For Increased Private Sector Investment In Health Sector

International governance and development expert, Barr. Tagbo Agbazue with African and global stakeholders in the health sector advocate for increased private sector investments in the health sector towards the attainment of universal health coverage across Africa’s 55 countries.

The experts jointly held that enhancing private sector investment in health was crucial for African citizens, as well as the continent’s long-term growth, sustainability and competitiveness. The experts maintained that investment in the health sector is important to preclude the growing loss of African capital through medical tourism abroad, while providing Africans with timely access to sophisticated medical treatment and opportunities for job creation.

According to Barr. Agbazue: The private sector’s involvement in health systems is growing in scope and it includes the provision of health-related services, medicines and medical equipment and products through manufacturing, financial products, training for the health workforce, ICT, infrastructure, and support services. Many of these activities provide the opportunity for supporting economic growth through job creation for Africa’s growing youthful population”.

These submissions were made at the just-concluded two-day African Leadership Meeting (ALM) in Lusaka, Zambia, with the theme: ‘Private Sector Investment in Health and Health Financing.’

The ALM is a high-level meeting organised by the African Union Development Agency-NEPAD (AUDA-NEPAD) in partnership with the African Union Commission, WHO, UNAIDS and other global and continental partners. It serves as a precursor to the African Health Conference of Heads of State, which is officially scheduled to be hosted by President Paul Kagame in Kigali, Rwanda in February 2024, involving over thirty (30) African Heads of State.

In Lusaka, Zambia, the African Leadership Meeting sought to review progress and enhance coordination and execution of its declaration on “Investing in Health”, as well as to make recommendations to the African Health Conference of Heads of State.

The inaugural African Leadership Meeting on “Investing in Health” was held in February 2019, where it adopted a declaration aimed at increasing domestic health financing to strengthen health systems and achieve quality-assured Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in Africa. African Union Member States committed themselves to the ALM declaration, which includes four components: private sector engagement in health; health financing; the tracker; and advocacy and communication.

To operationalise the ALM, the strategic framework for private sector engagement in health was developed, and private sector stakeholder meetings have been held at continental, regional, and country levels. Similarly, health financing dialogues have also been held in various AU Member States, and regional health financing hubs have been set up in some regions. The tracker, which is a tool for monitoring progress in health financing, has also been developed and piloted.

Barr. Tagbo Agbazue while addressing stakeholders at this year’s summit, charged governments at all levels with bolstering the investment-friendly climate and guaranteeing long-term, integrated, national health sector-specific strategies with distinct roles for the private sector that remain constant with each new administration.

During the Africa Leadership Meeting in Zambia, Barr. Agbazue chaired the High-Level Panel tasked with recommending priority actions for strengthening the private sector in health to the African Health Conference of Heads of State in Kigali, Rwanda. The recommendations and strategies from the panel, which were presented by Barr. AGBAZUE include:

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR GOVERNMENT:
a) Strengthening the enabling environment (policy, legislation, and regulation) for supporting private sector investment in health.
b) Providing requisite infrastructure and logistics, e.g. roads networks, energy and electricity etc.
c) Ensuring Long-term integrated national sector-specific strategies for the health-sector with clear roles for the private sector that don’t change with each in-coming Minister or administration.
d) Incentive programmes for private sector investment in health, e.g. access to land, tax breaks, subsidies, interest rates, etc., which should not be abused by corruption.
e) Provide opportunities for Public-Private sector dialogues
f) Promote Public-Private-Partnerships and joint initiatives, e.g. government
social health insurance and private insurance working collaboratively.
g) Affirmative action in procurement to support local suppliers and facilities.
h) Avoiding crowded investments and encouraging the private sector to make profits in the long term.
i) Domesticate the principles of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area Agreement
(AfCFTA) regarding free movement of people, goods, and services.
j) Support private sector investment in health in order to provide job opportunities for
young people and women.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PRIVATE SECTOR:
a) Compliance with legislation, regulation and policies.
b) Responsible private sector investment (social, and environmental performance in addition to generating a good return on investment. Private sector in health should focus on the 3Ps: people, planet and profits.
c) Private sector involvement in government planning (Opportunities for Public-Private sector dialogues).
d) Public-Private-Partnerships and joint initiatives.
e) Innovation that contextualizes global best practice to suit our local realities to obtain
World-class results.
f) Commitment to growth in the long-term and avoiding rent seeking and corrupt
practices.
g) Ensuring Business-to-business platforms including south-south and south-north etc.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT FINANCE INSTITUTIONS (DFIs) AND BANKS:
a) Develop financial products and facilities for private sector investment in health including
equity, grants and facilities, including good de-risking /insurance instruments.
b) Provide Affordable loans and Innovative products and facilities e.g. contextualise global standards to suit local
realities.
d) Supporting Public-Private-Partnerships and joint initiatives by government and private sector.
e) Facilitate private sector investment in health.

The timing of the African Leadership Meeting was perfect, as it set the stage for a consultative meeting for Central and Western Africa to be held in Abuja in January of 2024. The Kigali Health Conference, scheduled for February 2024, with the theme “Sustaining the HIV Response through Financing & Investing in Africa’s Health Systems for Improved Health Security on the Continent,” will be informed by the recommendations of these meetings.