Int’l Conference on Social Franchising for meeting NRHM goals

Against the backdrop of several unmet needs, the innovative model of social franchising could help India fast-forward its healthcare goals

Social Franchising in healthcare sector is an innovative method to meet with the medical needs of our nation. Without doubt, the private sector in healthcare in our nation is better equipped than its public counterpart in terms of technological facilities. To address this need of Social Franchising in terms of meeting NRHM goals the two day event was held here in New Delhi.

Key objectives of the Quid-Pro-Quo association were:

• To showcase the best practices in reproductive health franchising in India and around the world.
• To deliberate on various aspects of franchising including quality control, improving access, cost effectiveness and equity
• To bring all the social franchise network providers and subject experts on a platform for developing a loose network on Social franchise in India.
• To develop a roadmap for developing a government owned and Franchise managed professional social franchise network for reaching the un-reached with quality maternal and child health services.

The conference brought over 150 participants from nation and abroad to discuss and share their experiences. The list included donors,experts and policy-makers. Discussions were done on sensitive issues such as, how to create a network, challenges in ensuring quality control, branding and publicity and integrating the social franchise network with the government referral mechanisms.

 

Sharing some statistics on the issue and why Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) need to be initiated, Mr Sanjeev Dham, Programme Director, PSI (India) stated, “At independence, India’s private sector comprised of only eight percent of the healthcare facilities. Now the scenario has changed and so should our approach.”

“Researches from the past decade indicate that 93% of all hospitals, 64% of beds, 85% of doctors, 80% of outpatients and 57% of inpatients are in the private sector. Going through these numbers it is clear that effective collaboration with the private sector via Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) could improve health service utilizations significantly. Thereby, making a difference in the health status of the people,” Dham added.

There has been an appreciable decline in the health indicators such as Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR). IMR, for example, has improved in percentage of safe deliveries of from 48.0 per 100,000 in 2004 to 52.7 per 100,000 in 2008. However, when these results are compared with the global numbers, India’s IMR and MMR clearly show the huge room for improvement.

A major effort is required to improve facilities for women in 254 priority districts in states such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, parts of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand. These districts have weak health systems and private facilities can be made available for women if feasible and practical partnerships can be worked out with the private sector.

Vasanthi Krishnan, Chief Executive Director, HLFPPT talked about the immense growth in population. Krishnan said, “With more than 1.2 billion people, India now contains about 17.5% of the world’s population. The problem is more in the northern parts of India. All southern states have achieved the replacement level fertility of 2.1 children per woman. The four large states of the north; namely, Bihar, M.P, Rajasthan and U.P have 4.3, 3.6, 3.7 and 4.2 children per woman respectively,”

“In India around 26 million children are born annually. Out of this mammoth number, a shocking 5.5 million are a result of unplanned pregnancy. These cases and statistics only go on to prove the support that the government and NRHM need from external health agencies,” opined Krishnan.

About PSI

Population Services International (PSI) is a leading global health organization with programs targeting malaria, child survival, HIV, reproductive health and non-communicable disease. Working in partnership within the public and private sectors, and harnessing the power of the markets, PSI provides life-saving products, clinical services and behavior change communications that empower the world's most vulnerable populations to lead healthier lives.

PSI has an uncommon focus on measurable health impact and attempts to measure its effect on disease and death much like a for-profit measures its profits. In 2009, PSI estimates that its programs directly prevented nearly 150,000 HIV infections, 3.5 million unintended pregnancies, almost 270,000 deaths from malaria and diarrhea and 40 million malaria episodes.

PSI has been partnering Government of India since 1988 for the social marketing of male condoms and Oral Contraceptive Pills (OCP). Programs have evolved substantially over the years to include targeted marketing activities in reproductive and child health, and the prevention of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria. PSI is also involved in the prevention of lifestyle diseases, through its work in tobacco control. PSI is a pioneer in social marketing in India and has expanded the portfolio to include 11 other health products that are distributed through 37 super Stockists, who service over 1,490 stockists, based in district headquarters and block towns, from where over 650,000 retailers are serviced regularly. PSI is increasingly involved in health service delivery through the management of reproductive health clinic and franchised network of private sector health clinics. Website: http://www.psi.org/