LIST OF PANELS

Universal Health Coverage has witnessed growing salience in the global health policy agenda, and is zealously promoted by global health agencies as hallmark to governments’ commitment to sustainable development and poverty reduction. However, there is confusion on scope and mandate of the private for-profit sector, and UHC is often criticised for serving as a vehicle for expanding privatisation through private health financing, management and service delivery. Yet, the evidence substantiating this claim remains poorly synthesized and/or substantiated. This session seeks evidence on the scope and effectiveness of the commercial sector (and the paradigm of public private partnerships) in  achieving UHC in LMICs. We invite abstracts for papers reporting findings of empirical research to critically examine role of private sector, scope of public-private interactions, and their implications for the agenda of UHC. Submissions should examine evidence to address one or more of the following questions. 1.  What is evidence on the roles and effectiveness of the formal and informal for-profit sectors in achieving UHC? What functions can they best serve? 2.  What is the evidence of private financing and/ or service provision in the achievement of UHC and addressing health equity? 3.  What is the significance of health markets and commercialization on health systems, in the context of UHC? 4.  How effective is public sector stewardship for the regulation of private for profit sector?

Described by the Director-General of the WHO as ‘the most powerful concept that public health has to offer’, Universal Health Coverage has risen quickly to the top of the global health policy agenda, and zealously promoted by global health agencies as hallmark to governments’ commitment to sustainable development and poverty reduction. The role of the private-for-profit sector in UHC reforms has been widely debated.The UHC has come under criticism for serving as a vehicle for expanding privatisation, albeit the evidence substantiating this claim remains poorly synthesized and/or substantiated. Debates around the private sector’s role in health are unfortunately often polarized on simplistic and fallacious ideological lines? these are often unhelpful for real-world health policy. This session seeks to enhance our understandings and knowledge of the scope and effectiveness of the private for-profit sector (and the paradigm of public private partnerships) in advancing and achieving UHC in LMICs. We invite abstracts for papers reporting findings of empirical research to critically examine role of private sector, scope of public-private interactions, and their implications for the agenda of UHC to be presented at the above panel. Submissions should address the nature of private influences on health policy, governance and management that facilitate or impede achievement of UHC; and specifically examine evidence to address one or more of the following questions. 1. What is evidence on the roles and effectiveness of the commercial private sectors in achieving UHC? 2. What is the evidence of private financing and/ service provision in the achievement of UHC and addressing health equity? 3. What is the role of the informal for-profit private sector in achieving UHC and what functions can they best serve? 4. What is the role of planned and unplanned market-based practices and incentives, in the context of public sector service delivery? 5. What is the significance of health markets and commercialization on health systems, in the context of UHC? 6. How effective is public sector stewardship for the regulation of private for profit sector, in the context of UHC? Abstracts should outline original research/ reviews and methodologies suitable for examining private sector engagement in health care systems. Commentaries/ Opinion pieces will NOT be accepted.In preparing your abstract, please include the following information: · Abstract title · Authors and affiliations (please * presenting author) · Abstract text (max. 500 words) · Keywords (up to 5) · Funding sources: Please include a statement listing any research funders or other sources of financial support which have contributed to the work presented. · Declaration of potential conflict of interest: If no such relationship exists, write ‘We declare no competing interests’. If any potential conflict of interest does exist, please provide a statement of full disclosure.