Working Together

Collaborative partnerships have been critical in improving health outcomes over the past decade. How can all players, including corporations, individual donors, aid agencies, NGOs and others work together to improve health for all?

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What makes a global health partnership succeed

The rhetoric — and practice — around global health partnerships has evolved in recent years. As the international community gears up for a new, post-2015 global development agenda, it's time to take stock and examine what makes a successful collaboration that improves care and enables even the most marginalized people to live healthier and more fulfilled lives.

Why global health needs the private sector

Millions of children in the hardest-to-reach places still lack access to the vaccines that can help them lead healthy and productive lives. With the help of the private sector, this can change, writes Gavi Board Chair Dagfinn Høybråten.

Reposition the toilet and end open defecation in India

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to build 111 million toilets to end open defecation. That’s great, but let’s make sure people use them, writes a Singaporean entrepreneur known as “Mr. Toilet."

Innovation and collaboration are core to progress in global health

While working with the Human Genome Project, I saw first-hand the ingenuity that resulted when people from multiple disciplines worked together, writes Seema Kumar. Let's do the same to tackle humankind's greatest health challenges.

Radical partnerships: 5 ways to make them work

A mix of business and charity can help people live healthier lives and enable communities to prosper. One year into their partnership, Save the Children and GlaxoSmithKline offer lessons on cross-sector collaboration.

The power of 'we': Partnering for a healthier world

Public-private partnerships play a key role in addressing global health challenges like malaria. Yvonne Chaka Chaka, the South African singer and goodwill ambassador for the Roll Back Malaria campaign, discusses four unique strengths that PPPs bring to the table.

Toward a global partnership for an AIDS-free generation

The global fight against HIV and AIDS can only succeed if we collaborate across borders and sectors. By Catherine Connor, senior director of public policy and advocacy at the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.

To end preventable maternal mortality, let’s explore 'business as unusual'

To create a world where no woman dies giving life, it’s time to rethink the way we approach maternal health — and the role of private health providers and local health businesses. By Priya Agrawal, executive director of Merck for Mothers.

A partnership for healthy moms and babies in India

This week, the Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action launched its first program in India. How was the alliance able to assemble a top team of local and international partners? MAMA Executive Director Kirsten Gagnaire explains.

Working together means making choices

Compromise is never easy, but in the end working together for health will mean making real (and sometimes painful) choices about what to focus on first. A commentary by Antoinette Kome, global WASH coordinator at SNV.

The best of both worlds: How PPPs can deliver ‘choice’ to women living in poverty

As support for universal health coverage continues to expand, tremendous opportunities for public-private partnerships are emerging from the Philippines to Ghana and beyond. By Brendan Hayes, head of social franchising at Marie Stopes International.

How to leverage the private sector to sustain health programs: A case study from Ghana

Public-private partnerships can boost development, but they're often hard to get off the ground. Two Deloitte experts share their experience fighting neglected tropical diseases in Ghana to explain how to mobilize private sector investment for public health programs.

Microfinance is the key for the Philippines to meet MDG 5

Microfinance has helped to expand access to health care for millions of women living in poverty. By working together across sectors, we can provide improved health care — especially maternal and child care — in the Philippines. A joint commentary by representatives of the Microcredit Summit Campaign, Freedom from Hunger and CARD MRI.

How big pharma can be convinced to share intellectual property

How do you convince pharmaceutical companies to share their intellectual property so that access to affordable health care can be improved in the developing world? Greg Perry, CEO of Medicines Patent Pool, explains in this video interview.

Seeing the future through the power of global advocacy

Without more advocacy, vision loss in older people will never be seen as the public health threat it is. By Dana Bandola of the International Federation of Ageing.

Past lessons teach us the way to a healthier future

Working together — across sectors, geography and organizations — is how we will win the fight against poverty and make a better tomorrow for millions of marginalized people around the world. By Kerry Bruce, Pact's senior director for global health and measurement.

How to keep the world’s most neglected people healthy

The world’s first private donor-advised fund to fight neglected tropical diseases promotes cross-sector collaboration and reduces red tape. A video interview with The End Fund CEO Ellen Agler.

3 ways the private sector is boosting health development outcomes

Where governments cannot provide, the private sector must step in — particularly in global health. Here are three examples of pharmaceutical manufacturers doing just that. A video interview with Rabin Martin President and CEO Jeff Sturchio.

Must Reads

Case Study

Working toward Transformational Health Partnerships in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Global Health Partnerships are emerging as critical ingredients to address global health challenges. This report from The Business of a Better World draws on interviews with pharmaceutical industry executives, private sector leaders and other stakeholders to draw conclusions on how to further the impact of GHPs on low- and middle-income countries.

Multimedia

Dengue: Turning up the volume on a silent disaster

Over the past 50 years, dengue has spread from nine to over 100 countries, making it the most rapidly spreading vector-borne disease. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is turning up the volume on this silent disaster, and advocates for a shift in approach from responding to isolated outbreaks of dengue to investing in long-term, integrated programming.

Article

Get tested, get treated: How communities and volunteers can play a key role in the fight against HIV

Ahead of the International AIDS Conference 2014, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies urged governments to ensure community health workers and volunteers are given the respect and support they need to play a critical role in the global fight against HIV.

Case Study

Sustainable Health and Multi-Stakeholder Action – Lessons Learnt from the MDGs:

As 2015 approaches, the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations looks back at the Millenium Development Goals and the contributions of the pharmaceutical industry in achieving them.

Article

Community health workers respond to Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone

UNFPA recently signed an MOU with mobile phone companies in Sierra Leone, which are supplying phones to contact tracers in the Ebola response.

Multimedia

Improving health care for 450,000 people in the DRC

The Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the worst places in the world to be a child. In 2013, GlaxoSmithKline and Save the Children embarked on an ambitious global partnership to help save the lives of one million children, with initiatives including developing child-friendly medicines and training frontline health workers.

Article

Governments need to 'join up and scale up' on health

While universal health care is a crucial component to realizing the right to health, it cannot be seen in isolation. Plan U.K. CEO Tanya Barron tells us why we need to join up and scale up on health.

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Cover photo contributed by:
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies