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FEATURE STORYJanuary 29, 2023

COVID-19 demonstrates how the private sector can collaborate with the state to help address crises

Covid-19 and the private sector

MADAGASCAR. With Madagascar’s health system under strain from the COVID-19 pandemic and schools shuttered for the foreseeable future, the health, education, and overall wellbeing of the Malagasy people are increasingly at risk. As the pandemic hits more and more countries, the World Bank Group and other organizations are stepping up to provide immediate support in order to quickly get resources to the front lines of fighting this disease.

Photo: World Bank / Henitsoa Rafalia

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

  • The private sector is increasingly playing a role in supporting government not just in the delivery of services but through know-how and technology.
  • During the Covid-19 pandemic private corporations supported government agencies in their immunization campaign efforts.
  • Future governments will need to address the increasing demands and expectations the public places on them in more sustainable ways.

In market economies, governments have historically adopted policies that allowed the private sector to thrive, providing a legal and economic framework that have resulted in economic growth and prosperity. Due to efforts to privatize certain formerly public functions, the private sector has assumed an increasingly important role in the delivery of basic services, such as health and education during the past few decades. While this development was only partially successful and often faced stiff opposition from the public it has also proven to be quite successful on numerous occasions. During the Covid-19 pandemic private corporations supported government agencies in their immunization campaign efforts. In India, the Serum Institute of India signed a contract with AstraZeneca to manufacture 1 billion doses of CoviShield for low- and middle-income countries. Similar contracts for vaccine manufacturing are being designed and implemented with local companies in Africa, which will hopefully expand vaccine supply for the continent.1

The private sector successfully intervened during the pandemic and supported government efforts to tackle the pandemic can be found in unexpected areas – for example the drone industry. The use of unmanned aerial vehicles to deliver life-saving medical supplies was already proven to be feasible before the onset of the pandemic. In remote and isolated communities, this new technology operated by the private sector in coordination with governments (which often introduced new, more lenient airspace-related regulations to facilitate the quick deployment of the technology). This proved to be crucial to deliver personal protective equipment, test kits, and return lab samples in a timely manner.

Governments have reduced the space(s) for non-state actors

Governments have reduced the space(s) for non-state actors

Partnering with the private sector

For example, in Canada, “a drone fleet capable of supporting several medical-related operations at a range of capabilities and costs” was successfully developed and “Procedural documents were successfully developed, tested and refined over the course of 30 missions and over 100 flights throughout southern Alberta” (Flemons et al., 2022). Many countries have now partnered with drone companies to deliver medical supplies of various kinds via drones, including Apian in the UK, Zipline in Ghana, and Swoop Aero in Malawi, aligning private sector capability with public sector facilitation in real world contexts and addressingcitizens’ needs.

The COVID-19 crisis offers a perfect example of how the government of the future can interact with the private sector beyond simply supporting the private sector in increasingly common crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic or, more recently, rising energy costs in many developed countries. The government of the future needs to closely collaborate with the private sector to increase the scope for non-state action if it is to successfully face future challenges, such as climate change, or ensuring food security. Future governments will need to address the increasing demands and expectations the public places on them in more sustainable ways. The private sector can be a key player in this framework if governments recognize how to use its potential and increases its scape for action.

References:

Vaccine production, distribution, access and uptake (2011): https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=vaccine+production+and+distribution&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

Learning from past pandemic governance: Early response and Public-Private Partnerships in testing of COVID-19 in South Korea: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7500944/

Enduring the impacts of COVID-19: experiences of the private higher education sector in Ethiopia: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03075079.2020.1859690?needAccess=true&

COVID‐19 and Private Health: Market and Governance Failure: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1057/s41301-020-00273-x.pdf

The COVID-19 Innovation System: https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/pdf/10.1377/hlthaff.2020.02097

1https://blogs.worldbank.org/health/mobilizing-private-sector-equal-and-rapid-covid-19-vaccine-rollout

 

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