15th February, 2012
The Chairperson of AMREF Tanzania’s Advisory Council, Dr Lucy Nkya, has urged Tanzania to embrace public-private partnerships if it is to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015, and bring lasting health change in the country.
Launching AMREF Business Plan October 2011-September 2014 at New Africa Hotel Dar es Salaam recently, Dr Nkya, who is also the Deputy Minister for Health and Social Welfare, said that Tanzania still lagged behind in achieving most of the MDGs, adding that more needed to be done to enable the country to attain the goals before the 2015 deadline.
She noted that AMREF programmes were highly dependent on external donors, yet the donor environment and priorities were changing rapidly. In recent past, Dr Nkya pointed out, there has been a strategic shift by a number of traditional bilateral partners from giving grants towards health sector development to supporting businesses and entrepreneurship; in the medium to long term, AMREF could become incapable of supporting some of the programmes that are badly needed in Tanzania if it continues to rely solely on external funding.
“I therefore advise you to build strong partnerships between the government, private sector and civil society to pool local resources in order to ensure effective and sustainable access to health services, especially for the marginalised and poorest communities in hard-to-reach areas,” she said.
Dr Nkya said public-private partnerships typically involved the government moving away from its old traditional role of being a direct provider to the role of an enabler and regulator of service provision by private players.
The launch included a panel discussion on How Best Public-Private Partnerships Can Work Together to Achieve Lasting Health Change in Tanzania moderated by renowned lawyer Dr Eva Hawa Sinare, who is also a member of AMREF Tanzania’s Advisory Council.
Click on the image below to view a slideshow of the AMREF Tanzania Business Launch
The Chairperson of AMREF Tanzania’s Advisory Council Dr Nkya launching AMREF's Business Plan
The panellists included Ms Joyce Mhaville, the Managing Director of ITV and Radio One, who spoke from the media perspective; the First Secretary at the Netherlands Embassy, Dr Rik Peeperkorn, who spoke from donors’ perspective; and the Managing Director of Barclays Bank Tanzania, Mr Kihara Maina who discussed the topic from the private sector’s perspective. Dr Festus Ilako, AMREF Tanzania Country Director, spoke from AMREF Tanzania’s perspective while Ms Asina Shenduli, Programme Director of the National Muslim Council of Tanzania (BAKWATA) gave the viewpoint of AMREF’s beneficiaries.
Ms Mhaville said the media could be valuable partners in health issues rather than just being mere vehicles of disseminating information. “We can go beyond doing business, educating and informing the public so that they make informed choices. So, let us join forces,” she urged.
Mr Maina said effective sustainable social responsibility was crucial, adding that private companies would like to know what returns they would get when supporting social causes. “I’ve gone through AMREF’s Business Plan and it is very well thought out. Although the private sector looks at the way it can maximize profits it has to aim at socially accepted returns and re-invest by giving back to the community,” he added.
Dr Peeperkorn noted that, although there had been significant achievements in Tanzania’s health sector in the last ten years, there was need to invest in the health system, including in the delivery of services and training of health personnel while encouraging performance-based investment.
Ms Shenduli spoke about the partnership between AMREF and BAKWATA, which she said had played a key role in changing the perception of HIV and AIDS by religious leaders, who initially viewed it as an affliction of ‘sinners’.
Dr Ilako encouraged the private sector to partner with AMREF and invest in health as it makes good business sense. “Companies cannot do good business if their clients and workforce are not well,” said Dr Ilako. He challenged local companies to contribute more to health, noting that in 2011, local private companies contributed only one per cent of AMREF Tanzania’s budget.
He said that private-public partnerships should be strengthened to ensure lasting health improvements for Tanzanians. Currently, he pointed out, families face the dual burden of high medical costs and the stresses of poor health. NGOs, Government and the private sector, he said, must pool resources for the public good.
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