Balancing Public and Private Health Care Systems

The Sub-Saharan African Experience

Balancing Public and Private Health Care Systems appears at a timely moment, given widespread current discussion about equity in healthy care and the role of the state in healthcare planning. In response to the World Bank recommendation that the principle of cost recovery be included in healthcare financing strategies, African countries embraced the principle of public-private partnerships in healthcare. It was argued then, and still now, that a way out of their health conundrum is for governments to play a smaller role in healthcare. The present book explores the different financing arrangements in Ghana, Tanzania, and Uganda. It introduces new scholarship on post-colonial healthcare strategies in Africa, especially during a decade of market-oriented healthcare reform. Drawing upon current research and case studies, as well as recent work by the author himself on African healthcare systems, this book sets out to analyze the implications of the various strategies for the future of healthcare financing in Africa.