Challenges to Establish Effective Public-Private Partnerships to Address Malnutrition in All Its Forms

By:
Jessica Fanzo1,2,3*ID, Yusra Ribhi Shawar2,1ID, Tara Shyam4, Shreya Das5, Jeremy Shiffman2,1ID
International of Journal of Health Policy Management
1The Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA. 2The Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA. 3The Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA. 4Independent Consultant, Singapore, Singapore. 5Independent Consultant, New Delhi, India.
Date:
2021
Resource type:
Peer review

Every country is affected by some form of malnutrition. Some governments and nutrition experts look to public-private partnerships (PPPs) to address the burden of malnutrition. However, nutrition-related PPPs face opposition, are difficult to form, and there is limited evidence of their effectiveness. We conducted a literature review and 30 semi-structured interviews with individuals involved in or researching nutrition-related PPPs to identify the factors that shape their creation and effectiveness in food systems. In conclusion, if effective nutrition-related PPPs are to be established, private sector conflicts of interest must be addressed, trust deficits between private and public sector actors must be surmounted, and evidence must be assessed as to whether PPPs can achieve more for public health nutrition than private and public sector actors working separately.

Key Messages

  • Policy-makers should decide if a partnership with private sector is warranted and if so, that there is sufficient causal pathways to impact, strong governance mechanisms, and no conflicts of interest between actors of the partnership.
  • If policy-makers are to partner with private sector, the architecture of the engagement needs to be transparent, open, and inclusive with a main goal to improve public health nutrition.
  • Putting in place robust accountability mechanisms within established public-private partnerships (PPPs) will be critical for governments so that they can steward, monitor and incentivize private sector actors to work towards promoting healthy diets and nutrition within food systems.

Read the Publication Here 

This resource has been peer reviewed