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Expanded provision of quality services by private and commercial providers
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Private Sector Mobilization for Family Planning (PRISM)
DKT Philippines' Family TRUST Program
Friendly Care Foundation Inc.
Philippines-TB Initiatives in the Private Sector (PhilTIPS)
Micronutrient Operational Strategies and Technologies (MOST)
Well Family Midwife Clinics Partnership Foundation, Inc. (WPFI)
USAID is developing the private sector as an alternative source of health services. Of those seeking family planning services from the public sector, 61% belong to middle- and high-income groups and 67% have expressed willingness to pay for family planning services and contraceptives. Shifting half of middle-income and all high-income users to the private sector will increase the current private sector share of the market by 10% and free up more public resources that would be available for the truly indigent population.
While tuberculosis treatment is widely available in the public sector, about half of patients are receiving TB treatment from private physicians and traditional healers. Many of them are not using modern treatment, thereby increasing the probability of spreading multi-resistant TB. A market for private sector FP services and TB treatment already exists and can be tapped by the private sector.
BACKGROUND
The provision of family planning services and commodities in the Philippines is largely operated through a free public sector program. This is difficult to sustain with low economic growth, scarce public resources and a fast growing population of more than 80 million. Population growth is absorbing many of the resources coming from economic progress and making social development extremely difficult.
The Philippines has a vibrant private sector but its potential remains largely untapped. USAID believes the Government needs to reduce pressure on its scarce public funds by encouraging other sectors, particularly the private sector (profit and non-profit) to share in the responsibility of providing family planning services. Also, it is clear, given that population growth has exceeded publicly established goals for many years, that a public sector-only program by itself is not likely to succeed.
USAID's private sector programs address the imbalance and inequities in the public-private mix of service provision and use. These programs hope to free the Government to concentrate on improving the quality and availability of services for those most in need of public support, and at the same time, ensuring the availability and accessibility of quality services to all.
Several surveys already pointed out that a potential market for private sector family planning services and TB treatment already exists. People are willing to pay for good health. USAID's Programs are exploring ways of developing the private commercial sector as an alternative source of such services. With USAID's phasing down of its contraceptive donations, fostering an environment where private commercial players can come in to provide wider family planning options is one of the challenges of USAID's private sector programs.
The approach to encouraging a multi-sectoral response is two-pronged:
1. Reduce public sector dependency. All the contraceptive requirements of the Philippine family planning programs to date have been provided by USAID and other donors. USAID has embarked on a Contraceptive Self-Reliance (CSR) Initiative to implement a gradual reduction of the commodity support to the public sector while mobilizing internal resources, both public and private to cover the gaps. CSR entails focusing public sector family planning services and supplies to the poor who are unable to pay and moving those who can pay to the private sector.
2. Increase private sector involvement as a sustainable source or provider of services and supplies by:
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Mobilizing business and labor support -- Working through major business and labor organizations,
USAID disseminates business-oriented information designed to demonstrate the advantages to productivity and employee
health of having active family planning program.
Increasing private provider participation -- Two model provider projects, the Well-Family Midwives
and FriendlyCare, are designed to demonstrate that affordable quality primary health and family planning services can be
operated sustainably.
Encouraging the private sector to provide an affordable supply of contraceptives -- USAID supports
the marketing efforts of low-priced and commercially viable brands of pills and injectables by DKT, Philippines.
Increasing private financing including health insurance -- USAID funds actuarial studies
fully expected to show private employers and labor that adding coverage for family planning for employees will actually
save employers money while improving health and other employee concerns.
Aside from engaging the private sector to provide family planning and TB DOTS services, USAID also aims to increase the supply of fortified foods in the marketplace.
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