NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Friday, June 13, 2014

The role of business in addressing development challenges is growing, and changing — but how do you get a particular company to say “yes” to a public-private partnership?

One way to win that partner is to provide incentives, Kyi Minn, World Vision regional advisor for health nutrition and HIV and AIDS in East Asia, said during a breakout session at the first Devex Partnerships Forum in Manila.

Last November, the Myanmar Health and Development Consortium — which Minn co-founded with other health and development experts — organized a forum to engage private companies in containing the alarming spread of drug-resistant malaria in the country.

That meeting bore fruit, as several firms working in the sectors of health, trading, pharmaceuticals and infrastructure agreed to work with public health providers in monitoring the disease and setting up facilities where their employees can have access to quality malaria drugs, among other initiatives.

In exchange, the country’s Ministry of Health will provide these companies “free” artemisinin-combination therapy (an effective anti-malaria treatment) for their employees and educate staff on available prevention measures, such as indoor residual spraying and insecticide-treated mosquito nets.