Theme: “Strategies and Innovations for Public-Private Sector Engagement”
12 October 2022
The African Union Commission (AUC) and African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) in collaboration with the African Union Business Council (AUBC) hosted the Private Sector Investment in Health Dialogue on 5 – 7 October 2022 in Nairobi, Kenya, to consult with African Union Member States, Regional Economic Communities (RECs), the private sector, and development partners on opportunities and strategies for strengthening private sector engagement in health in Africa. The delegates in attendance:
Reiterated the endorsement of the “Addis Ababa Commitment towards Shared Responsibility and Global Solidarity for Increased Health Financing Declaration” (AU Assembly ALM Declaration) by the Heads of State of AU Member States in February 2019 and noted the call for additional African-led private capital investment into the health sector.
Commended H.E. Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda and AU-appointed Leader for Domestic Health Financing, for his invaluable stewardship of the ALM Initiative and echoed the urgent need to appoint additional champions from Heads of State-level to community leaders through whom the public-private sector collaborative power for health financing can be leveraged.
Underscored the devastating socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa and emphasised the need for the AU Member States to collaborate with the private sector to strengthen capacity for quality and equitable healthcare service delivery to attain AU Agenda 2063: Africa We Want and Agenda 2030 on Sustainable Development Goals.
Requested the AUC and AUDA-NEPAD to convene a similar private sector engagement dialogue annually to keep the momentum of the prioritisation of the private sector’s role in health financing policy formulation and implementation.
Committed on following priority areas:
Priority 1: Adopt more favourable government policies and legal frameworks on custom, license, taxes, interest rates and ease movement of money in and out of countries that will facilitate private sector participation and set up required regulatory frameworks.
Priority 2: Conduct mapping of key areas of private sector engagement to inform definition of priorities, implementation of interventions, monitoring and evaluation.
Priority 3: Consolidate private sector federations at continental, regional and national levels to ensure coordinated efforts by private sector in contributing to health.
Priority 4: Develop a full set of AU-PPP in health document that can be adopted and implemented by RECs and all member countries.
Priority 5: Set up a coordination mechanism and operationalise technical working groups that will drive different components of private sector engagement in health.