5.I. Round table: Governing private sector engagement: opportunities & challenges in public health policy & practice
Authors:   Organised by: Policy and Governance for Health through the Life Course Unit, WHO/Europe,   Chair persons: Gabriele Pastorino (Denmark), Naomi Limaro Nathan (Denmark)
Published: October 2023

Health systems all over the world rely on a mix of public and private inputs in the financing and provision of health services and products, with varying degrees of involvement of the private sector. The importance of private sector engagement was evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, when governments had to work with the private sector to meet the demand of health services and products. Private actors were engaged or worked in partnership with the public health system to supply rapid and often innovative solutions to strengthen some existing services and develop new ones. In tandem, various governance challenges such as the lack of transparency, inefficiencies, and potential corruption - undermining effective health system performance were also experienced. This workshop aims to shed light on the learnings from private sector engagement (both positive and negative) during the pandemic, discuss the relevant issues shaping the governance of private sector engagement in public health, and the policy and practice implications in the post-pandemic world.

Session plan:

Opening/welcome by Dr Natasha Azzopardi Muscat Director, Division of Health Systems and Public Policy, WHO Regional Office for Europe (5 mins) - Tentative

Brief reflection on the Importance of governing private sector engagement - opportunities and challenges in public health policy and practice by Gabriele Pastorino Technical Officer, WHO Regional Office for Europe (5 mins)

Technical overview: key messages from the joint WHO EURO/European Observatory policy brief on lessons learnt from private sector engagement during COVID-19 by Anna Maresso, European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (5 mins) - Tentative

Roundtable discussion with panelists on key learnings on private sector engagement during COVID-19. (40 minutes)

Panelist representing Policy, Academia, and Practice would be engaged in a roundtable discussion, answering questions to shed more light on this topic. This would be followed by interactive Q& A with the audience.

Proposed questions:

-what we have learned from the COVID-19 pandemic on engaging with the private sector (common challenges and opportunities)

-examples of successful engagements and innovative collaborations that were maintained after the pandemic or scaled up

relevant issues shaping the governance of private sector engagement in public health, and the policy and practice implications in the post-pandemic world.

Key take-home messages from the session by Dr Naomi Limaro Nathan, Consultant, WHO Regional Office for Europe. (5 mins)

Closing remarks

Key learning outcomes:

• To enable an increased awareness of the opportunities and challenges of governing private sector engagement in public health policy and practice in the post-pandemic world.

•To build momentum for public health stakeholders to engage in the discourse and contribute to strengthening the governance of private sector engagement.

Key messages

• The pandemic experience has provided an opportunity for learnings - both good and bad to enable strengthened governance for private sector engagement.

• Engaging with the private sector in a post-pandemic world is vital to addressing health system needs and achieving UHC.