It is generally understood that the State has a responsibility for ensuring the health of its people. The State often meets this obligation through a combination of the following: the provision of direct health services, health insurance coverage, or subsidized services and medicines. In many developed countries, the role of the public health system is complemented by recognized private sector organizations (social marketing groups, nongovernmental organizations, and commercial providers). However, in many developing countries the public sector is the dominant provider of health services, with non-public actors playing undervalued and sometimes marginal roles. Relationships between the public and private sectors are sometimes characterized by friction, mistrust, and mutual suspicion. This workstream aims to define and clarify the complementary roles of the public and non-public sectors in contributing to national efforts to improve sexual and reproductive health – thus improving collaboration between sectors. It is hoped that collaboration will lead to more efficient use of in-country resources, and, ultimately, expanded and improved service provision for the client.
The workstream will:
- Place emphasis on supporting the government’s stewardship role of ensuring the health of the whole population;
- Recognize the significant role of the non-public sector in health service provision; and,
- Seek to promote enhanced cooperation and collaboration between the public and non-public sectors.
Total Market Initiative
The primary activity under this workstream is the Total Market Initiative (TMI). A “total market” brings together the public and private sectors in a coordinated effort to target those segments of the population they are best suited to serve. The TMI seeks to facilitate market segmentation with a broad range of in-country stakeholders from the public and non-public sectors, and to define the targeted market segments, roles, and responsibilities of the groups involved. Components of the initiative may include:
- Formative research to identify market segments
- Advocacy around segmented approaches and consensus on matching providers to segments
- Generic demand creation for RH products and services
- Targeted subsidy schemes
- Ongoing advocacy and supportive policy work
- Evaluation and lessons learned
This workstream will utilize work undertaken from other workstreams (e.g. Market Segmentation Primer, Indicators to measure market development)
MDA WG members are currently implementing the TMI through two Innovation Fund-supported activities. Please click on the following links for more information on each TMI activity:
