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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Leslie Flinn, Healthcare Practice, Emerging Markets Group, 2107 Wilson Blvd, Suite 800, Arlington, VA 22201, 703 373 7600, agodlove@emergingmarketsgroup.com

Issues: The treatment of TB and HIV/AIDS presents unique challenges in the private sector, including inadequate provider training and quality of services; counterfeit medications; unregulated use of ART and TB mono-therapy; and lack of incentives and capacity to ensure comprehensive care, treatment completion, and adherence to therapy. Franchising of TB and HIV/AIDS treatment is not widely used, although it provides cost-effective and sustainable solutions.

Description: Emerging Markets Group's Commercial Market Strategies project engaged the private sector and applied business approaches to healthcare provision in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Interventions built management and financial sustainability; created group discount programs to ensure access to commodities; improved service quality, access to credit, and public-private partnership through policy development. The presentation discusses how this experience can be used in TB and HIV/AIDS treatment.

Lessons learned: The establishment of viable franchising networks requires finding the right balance between affordability and profitability of services; access to funding for large fixed upfront costs and subsidies for ART provision; supportive policy environment; and solutions to the human capacity problem. Positive spill-over effects include increased access to quality care at estimated cost below current national treatment cost; strengthened private sector, loan and microcredit industry, generating resources through loan repayment; and emergence of professional associations participating in policy development.

Conclusion: The franchising of TB and HIV/AIDS treatment provides cost-effective and replicable solutions. Successful franchising requires synergies between donor programs in healthcare and economic growth; corporate business participation in insurance schemes, investment funds and joint ventures; and private-not-for-profit sector involvement.

Learning Objectives:

• The participants will learn about Emerging Markets Group's experience in engaging the private sector in healthcare provision in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and lessons learned from projects focusing on community health insurance schemes, franchising of services, innovative public-private partnership approaches, and more. The presentation will discuss how franchising of TB and HIV/AIDS treatment can increase access to treatment in rural areas and contribute to more equitable service utilization; improve the quality of services through training and quality control standards, typical of a franchising network; and provide solutions to the current problems with counterfeit medications and black markets through the establishment of a centralized procurement system that controls the quality and reduces the cost of treatment. Through standard operating procedures, treatment protocols, and financial incentives, a franchise can effectively improve treatment completion and adherence to therapy rates. The presentation will also address the necessary conditions that need to be in place to ensure the viability of a TB and HIV/AIDS treatment franchise.

Keywords: HIV/AIDS, Public/Private Partnerships

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered