Starting from zero: creating systemic impact in Somalia’s healthcare space
BEAM Grab the Mic webinar
Date: 13th June 2023
Speakers:
Ron Ashkin, Technical Director, DT Global Africa
and from Private Sector Partnerships in Health (PSPH) programme, Somalia and Somaliland:
Millicent Oketch, Programme Manager
Hassan Eymoy, Team leader
How do you create systemic impact where there is no system?
This webinar shared lessons from the PSPH programme in Somalia that are relevant to other resource-constrained, donor-distorted settings.
The Somali health sector and business culture is characterised by dominant private sector and weak government regulation. In the absence of public health insurance, the market is flooded with donor money for privately-supplied directly-delivered health services, mostly provided for free. The result is a precarious proxy public-health system that largely bypasses the government, and is completely dependent on donor philanthropy.
PSPH takes a 'mass market' approach to private healthcare. It works with healthcare financing and service providers who want to reach beyond the 2 per cent who can afford private healthcare, whilst also clearly distinguishing sustainable market development from humanitarian aid.
The speakers focused on:
- obtaining data in a data-empty environment
- building team and partner capacity
- partner engagement and building private sector partnerships
- practical tools and techniques
- Challenges encountered and their solutions