9 July 2024 – If we are to achieve the health-related targets of the Sustainable Development Goals, we need a paradigm shift, based on a new, more collaborative approach. This must harness the resources of all health actors and ensure that the private sector is also engaged in efforts to achieve public health goals.
On 15–17 July 2024, the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean and WHO headquarters will cohost, in Cairo, Egypt, a 3-day interregional meeting on private sector engagement – the first such meeting to be hosted by WHO globally.
The aim is to bring together the global, regional and country levels of the Organization to support the private sector engagement agenda. Participants joining from 5 WHO regions will include representatives of health ministries, partners, donors and the private sector, as well as relevant WHO teams.
The meeting is also a chance to discuss how to leverage the role of the private health sector in the regional flagship initiatives set out by the WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean. In particular, the private sector could have an impact on the initiatives to strengthen the health workforce and the supply chain in the Eastern Mediterranean Region.
Now more than ever, it is also vital to engage the private sector to maintain and provide health services in fragile, conflict-affected and vulnerable settings, given the increasing needs. The number of displaced people in the Region continues to grow as people are forced from their homes by natural disasters, man-made causes and climate change impacts.
The meeting will also provide a platform for the global health community to drive health outcomes by forging new partnerships with global health actors and the various levels of WHO. Together, attendees can explore areas of synergy and capitalize on interregional and country learnings.
WHO provides technical assistance to support Member States to engage the private health sector in working towards universal health coverage and health security. Such assistance spans governance, legislation, regulation, finance, and health service organization.
Read more about the Regional Office’s work on universal health coverage and health systems.
