Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 31 October (HL2511), what lessons they have learnt in respect of the use of aid to support mixed public and private health systems to deliver high quality, accessible and affordable healthcare to the poor.

The UK Government’s support to mixed health systems is evidence-based and includes rigorous mechanisms for lesson learning. We know that the non-state sector (for-profit and not-for-profit providers both in the formal and informal sector) delivers a substantial share of healthcare in low income countries - but that private provision might not meet the needs of the poor and can be inaccessible, of low quality, and unaffordable. Two key lessons for the use of aid in this area are (i) the need to focus on the needs of the poorest, and (ii) the importance of strengthening government stewardship of mixed health systems, to promote equitable access to quality and affordable health commodities and services. DFID programmes apply these lessons in the countries where we work with private providers.