Public–Private Partnership—Enhancing Resilience in Primary Healthcare

The Astana Declaration on Primary Health Care reiterated that primary healthcare is a cornerstone of a sustainable health system for universal health coverage and health-related Sustainable Development Goals. It called for governments to give high priority to primary healthcare in partnership with the public and private sectors and other stakeholders. Such partnership aims to increase access and facilitate the provision of prevention and treatment services, particularly for certain target groups. There are challenges of the partnership related to education, management, human resources, financial resources, information, and technology systems aspects. Resilience in primary care has multiple layers. Interventions at the individual, team, locality, and whole-system levels will be needed to build a sustainable primary care system for the future. The World Health Organization has seven policy recommendations on building resilient health systems based on primary healthcare, such as building a strong primary healthcare foundation, investing in institutionalised mechanisms for whole-of-society engagement, etc. Public–private partnerships have started to emerge as innovative solutions for expanding and improving health access. The chapter will demonstrate how public–private partnership can enhance resilience in primary healthcare with some case examples from Hong Kong and other regions.