The role of the private sector in health systems is a highly debated topic.  A new set of reports by the Results for Development Insititute, the Rockefeller Foundation and a number of other respected insititutions reflects innovative thinking around this topic. 

Most developing countries have mixed public/private health systems, where private providers--including a plethora of different types of formal and informal, for profit and not for profit organizations and individuals—may outnumber their government counterparts. Private providers, and the health markets that they operate in, have the potential to both harm and improve the health of the poor.

To shed light on this complex situation, the Results for Development Institute (R4D), in partnership with the International Health Policy Program of the Thai Ministry of Public Health and other health policy research organizations, analyzed the role the private sector plays and developed key recommendations on how governments can more effectively steward their health systems through better regulating and incentivizing the “non-state” part of the health sector, as well as how they can nurture innovative private health delivery and financing models that show promise for improving health and financial protection.

This effort, drawing on the work of a wide range of academic, think tank, and consulting partners, resulted in two synthesis reports by the Results for Development Institute (R4D), "Public Stewardship of Private Providers in Mixed Health Systems" and "Innovative Pro-Poor Healthcare Financing and Delivery Models", and thirteen technical papers by various institutions available for download below.  Additionally, a pamphlet summarizing the information contained in the synthesis paper on public stewarship is also available.