Bridging the Private and Public Sectors for Smart Global Health Policy

VIDEO (Coming soon)

The public and private sectors must work together to improve global health, for both economic and humanitarian reasons, said panelists at the University of Miami Global Health Forum, held Jan 12–14, 2011.

The public sector cannot work alone to improve health around the world, said UM President Donna Shalala during the panel, “Views from the CSIS Commission on Smart Global Health Policy.” Panelists discussed the results of a 2010 report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies Commission on Smart Global Health Policy. The CSIS’s mission is to make a healthier, safer and more prosperous world.

“We face fiscal and budgetary restraints. The question is, will we as a nation have the political will and political capacity to keep our global health commitments?” asked Shalala, a CSIS commissioner. “We need to put a heavy emphasis on drawing on assets from the business sector.”

The good news, said J. Stephen Morrison, senior vice president and director of the Center for Global Health Policy at the CSIS, is that there is growing interest in studying global health at American universities. The bad news is that the issue has lost congressional support.

“The American people understand and support the value of investing U.S. leadership and dollars into global health for a number of reasons,” Morrison said. “We’ve seen a remarkable explosion of U.S. leadership in the last decade — bipartisan support and U.S. population support. Whether it’s shallow or reversible is the question.”

The Obama administration is now tying support for global health initiatives to renewed economic growth, said Morrison, who called on global health stakeholders to engage the current Congress to support these types of programs. This would rebuild the foundations of support for programs that, in some cases, date to the administration of George W. Bush. Key figures in the Obama administration, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, have championed funding for such programs, but Morrison believes the private sector must step up as well.

Indeed, the Smart Global Health Policy report concludes that the private sector has special competencies that the U.S. government could tap to strengthen the performance of global health programs over time. Companies could put to use their expertise in system design, supply chains, workforce training and retention, marketing campaigns and information tools. They could also help spearhead the development of health insurance in developing countries. But is the private sector willing to make that investment?

Rhona Applebaum, vice president and chief scientific and regulatory officer for the Coca-Cola Co., noted that the company brings many of those capabilities to the table in its global health work, as well as its in-country experience. Calling public-private partnerships for global health a win-win situation, she noted that Coke is heavily involved in fighting AIDS/HIV in Africa, raising awareness of HIV among youth in Haiti, and working to prevent malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS in China, among other projects.

“It’s not all about money. It’s all about business,” Applebaum said. “We need to have stamina. We have to stay with it for the long term. It’s not about charity. Charity is not sustainable. It’s about business models. When you invest in health, it has outcomes and profits beyond dollar signs.”

Physician Steven Phillips, medical director of global issues and projects at ExxonMobil Corp., said that although there will be challenges over the next 10 years, President Obama’s plan to spend $63 billion on a comprehensive global health strategy is a positive development. This investment, Phillips said, offers a public sector market for private sector goods and services. “This level of spend beckons the U.S. government and private sector to collaborate,” Phillips said.

Obama’s plan is line with the Secretary Clinton’s Quadrennial Diplomacy Development Review, which offers a blueprint for elevating American civilian leadership and power in order to better advance the country’s national interests. That will also position the private sector to be a better partner to the U.S. military.

But the success of that strategy depends on true partnerships. “The only question is execution, execution, execution.” Phillips said. “It won’t happen unless, and until, there is a formal partnership that includes more business leaders in planning and execution.”

Lt. Gen. James Peake, former U.S. secretary of Veterans Affairs, made a strong connection between global health and the U.S. military. A physician, he called global health a complicated weave, and one in which we should all be interested.
“At any given time we may be deploying our forces to places with endemic diseases,” Peake said. “It’s a security issue.”