Sites for sore eyes

A good place to start is the Eldis Health Policy Resource Guide website which contains links to relevant World Bank documents and other resources on private sector involvement in healthcare reform. Newly launched, the Eldis Health Systems Resource Guide includes key readings, summarised documents and discussion lists.

The Institute for Health Sector Development (IHSD) has an excellent set of resources including a case study of a project in Belize. IHSD also runs a discussion list designed to bring together academics and specialists in the field of international health sector development. Click here to sign up and view.

The World Bank private sector development site highlights how developing countries can access its private sector advisory services. It covers health amongst a range of topics.

The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine's Health Economics and Financing Knowledge Programme site contains information about projects undertaken on the role of the private sector. The World Health Organisation's (WHO) website contains the principles that the WHO adheres to in working with the private sector in relation to diet, physical activity and health, highlighting the burden of chronic disease outweighs that of infectious disease.

An excellent review of key literature (PDF document) covering the private health sector in low-income countries appeared in the April 2002 Bulletin of the WHO.

The Institute of Overseas Development contains a number of case studies which look at whole health systems including the role that the private sector plays in Cambodia and Vietnam as well as in Tanzania, Mozambique and Uganda.

Caroline Morris
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id21health@ids.ac.uk

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