How can health services be expanded and cost less in Sub-Saharan Africa? A new report by the global development organizations, the IFC and World Bank, suggests that the answer may be found when governments leverage “the power of two” by entering into more public-private partnerships.

The IFC-World report entitled Healthy Partnerships: How Governments Can Engage the Private Sector to Improve Health in Africa is the result of research conducted in 45 African countries. The study, which was released in Nairobi, Kenya, reports on the positive engagement that public and private health sectors achieve in some countries as well as how this connection is lacking in others.

The IFC is a private sector-oriented part of the World Bank Group, whose mission statement says it operates to “create opportunity for people to escape poverty and improve their lives” primarily through the expansion of free markets in goods and services.

The World Bank is comprised of 187 members dedicated to providing “financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world” to fight poverty.

(Photo: Tom Schulze/Landov)