On the occasion of the 70th Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, and on the eve of the United Nations Summit to Adopt the Post-2015 Development Agenda, Rabin Martin, the Johns Hopkins Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health and the Study of Business Enterprise, and the Global Health Programme of the Geneva Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, and IFPMA held a side-event at the Westin Hotel in New York, titled “Accelerating Adoption of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in the Post-2015 Era: The Role of the Private Sector”. The event drew a high-level audience of nearly 200 people, including global health luminaries and executives from the private sector, the U.S. government, foundations, the World Health Organizations, patient groups and international non-government organizations. The event is part of a larger project to elucidate the important contributions that the private sector can bring to bear in helping countries realize the vision of UHC.
The event explored opportunities for private sector engagement in the pursuit of UHC. The discussion addressed the role that the private sector plays in helping countries to achieve UHC, particularly around innovative financing and developing products and services to meet ongoing health challenges such as maternal health, child survival, infectious disease and chronic illness. It has also examined the challenges of scaling up and sustaining public-private and private-private partnerships that seek to improve access to affordable and quality care.
The keynote speaker, Dr. Stefan Oschmann, Vice Chairman and Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and President, IFPMA, clearly stated that all stakeholders can contribute to assisting countries in providing greater access to more equitable, higher quality health care. For its part, the private sector contributes in two major ways. First, by sharing its expertise and experience in a wide range of business disciplines relevant to attaining the UHC goal (these include research and development, technology solutions, human resources management, logistics and supply chain management, media and communications, and finance). Second, by participating in multi-sectoral partnerships, the private sector can support countries to strengthen health systems, create innovative finance models and build the bodies of evidence that will be crucial to implementing UHC.
After delivering his keynote address, Dr. Stefan Oschmann was joined by a panel of global health experts comprising Ambassador Sally Cowal, Senior Vice President of Global Programs at the American Cancer Society, Pape Gaye, President and CEO of IntraHealth International, Michael Myers, Managing Director at The Rockefeller Foundation and Dr. Jeffrey L. Sturchio, President and CEO of Rabin Martin (moderator). The panel discussion sought to examine further the challenges to achieving UHC and explore ways in which the private sector – companies, non-government organizations, private providers, foundations and others – can help countries achieve this goal. Each of the panelists reflected on the important issues to be addressed to accelerate progress toward UHC – chronic illness, building the health workforce and increased political commitment. Dr. Nata Menabde, Executive Director of the World Health Organization Office at the United Nations delivered closing remarks.
On this occasion, IFPMA released a new infographic on Universal Health Coverage (UHC) which illustrates selected examples of the R&D-based pharmaceutical industry’s involvement in the pursuit of Universal Health Coverage (UHC). The infographic links the examples provided to our industry’s principles launched in 2014.