Baroness Kennedy of Cradley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kennedy of Cradley on 2016-10-20.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the role of private healthcare providers in delivering government aid programmes.
Lord Bates
In most low income countries the non-state sector delivers a substantial share of healthcare, with poorer people often relying on informal providers. This is usually in response to insufficient, poor quality or inaccessible state provision.
However, informal and unregulated private providers can sometime provide low quality health services and commodities, and out-of-pocket payments can contribute to further impoverishing low income groups. Ensuring that services are accessible and affordable to the poor usually requires government or external funding arrangements.
The UK Government uses its aid programmes to support the strengthening of mixed public and private health systems to deliver quality, accessible and affordable healthcare to the poor and uses thorough monitoring and evaluation processes to ensure that results are achieved and lessons learned.
