Faced with mounting healthcare needs spurred by HIV/AIDS and associated infectious diseases, developing countries’ public health care systems have found it increasingly difficult to meet the challenges of meeting the population’s health care needs through public services alone. In many countries, the private sector has untapped potential to provide and finance critical health services.

While private partnerships and health care services have flourished in many places, quality of care issues in the private sector remain a challenge. Research has shown that large numbers of providers in the private sector are not in compliance with treatment protocols for such services as family planning, tuberculosis, and sexually transmitted infections.

To address the need to optimize the quality of services provided in the private sector, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has awarded University Research Co., LLC a five-year indefinite quantity contract (IQC) for technical leadership and support under USAID’s “Global Health Private Sector Program” (PSP). PSP’s goal is to increase access to and delivery of high quality reproductive health and voluntary family planning (RH/FP) and other key health services through the private and commercial sectors.

URC’s project team for PSP will support the development of field level strategies in the private and commercial sectors to expand delivery and at the same time assure the quality of RH/FP services and increase access to care of populations that have been difficult to reach. URC Vice President Jack Galloway will serve as Project Director, leading a team of program partners and collaborating organizations that includes: Development Alternatives Inc.; ECIAfrica; EnCompass; Harvard School of Public Health; Howard Delafield International; Initiatives, Inc.; Management Systems International; Pact; and Population Media Center.

The URC PSP team brings strong experience and capabilities to improve the quality of health care systems provided by the private sector, enhance compliance with evidence-based guidelines that affect health outcomes, offer training and education to improve the performance of private health care providers, and expand access to health care and effect behavior change among providers and communities. For more information, please e-mail PSP Information Source at PSP@urc-chs.com or Kathleen Webb, Program Associate, at kwebb@urc-chs.com.