Provider Purchasing and Contracting for Health Services_The Case

use and patient information for MoH regarding the partnerships whenever we exhaust the
supplies they give us. To my disappointment, government never collects the information and
when given to them, they do not take it on board and keep complaining that the private sector
is not cooperating.”
In his view, less government interference and concern about the private sector has facilitated
the sector’s growth. Given this background, managers of private for-profits observed that a
voucher system allowing private practitioners to claim fees (incurred by patients who cannot
afford full payments) could be developed and managed by an independent body.
Partnerships in public health programs with companies
The government and the private sector, especially in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia,
have a long history of partnerships in public health programs. The partnerships are mainly in
prevention programs. These are discussed below.
Malaria and rabies prevention programs: Private mines provide technical and material
support to the District Health Management Teams in the malaria control program. The
Copperbelt Province has a long history of malaria control, practices since the early 1940s by
the predecessor mining firms as essentially an economic and productivity enhancement
measure to curb malaria-related morbidity, which had direct economic/financial and
productivity-related effects. This led to private-public partnerships in public health control.
This collaboration, although systematically and continuously undertaken, has not been
formalized through any arrangement equivalent to an agreement or contract; rather, through
the establishment of the District Health Boards, the contribution of the mining firms and
health services were captured as partnership programs in work plans and budgets. Partners
agree to meet some aspects of the prevention programs. For instance, indoor residual
spraying, a malaria prevention program, is the biggest partnership. Under this partnership
program, mines and District Health Management Teams unequally share residential areas or
housing units that each party has to cover. 9 Based on past experiences, each party contributes
funds to jointly procure chemicals sufficient to cover the housing units in the shared areas. In
addition, both parties are involved in community education and sensitization about specific
programs
Under these partnerships, mines are expected to train and provide protective clothing to the
staff involved in the spraying. Mines also provide storage facilities for the equipment and
chemicals that are used during the anti-malaria campaigns.
Promotion of partnerships with the private sector
The Ministry of Health has started to strengthen its relations with the private commercial
sector as part of the overall investment strategy from the Cabinet Office. The initiative
“Triangle of Hope” aims at increased investments in the health sector. Priority areas are hightech
medical services, manufacturing of pharmaceutical products, medical laboratory
services, diagnostic services, repair and maintenance of medical equipment, laundry services
to medical institutions, ambulance services, and human resources for health development.
9 Based on the interviews, mines often cover a relatively larger number of housing units than the Ministry of
Health covers.
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