BERLIN: Countries need to direct domestic funding towards their most pressing health challenges while leveraging private-sector expertise and international development finance to strengthen healthcare systems, Daniella Foster, Bayer’s Head of Public Affairs, Market Access, and Sustainability, Consumer Health, said.
Speaking to The Global Envoy’s Rohan Dua on the sidelines of the World Health Summit in Berlin, Foster said governments should establish long-term national health plans with clear priorities and measurable outcomes.
“I do think it is critical that countries determine what the biggest challenges are for their populations, commit to that, put domestic financing behind that, but leverage partnerships,” Foster said.
She cited India’s high prevalence of anaemia as an example of a public health challenge requiring sustained intervention. Foster said she had visited India shortly before travelling to Berlin and had heard health officials discuss an anaemia prevalence figure of 67%. The figure was cited by Foster and was not independently verified for this report.
Countries could combine domestic funding with support from multilateral development banks and private companies, which contribute scientific expertise, innovation and research and development in addition to financing, she said.
“The private sector … brings more than just the financing piece,” Foster said.
She said Bayer was conducting research and development in India for the Indian market, with some of that work also being applied in other countries.
Foster also called for healthcare systems to shift their emphasis from treating illness towards prevention and early intervention.
“We need to back up into prevention so that we’re shifting health systems from ones based on sick care to ones based on well care,” she said.
She said India could play a role in shaping healthcare delivery by translating national plans into state-level programmes and reaching populations in difficult-to-access areas.
Her comments came amid wider discussions at the World Health Summit on healthcare financing, access to care and the role of public-private partnerships in addressing non-communicable diseases.
