2020 CONCORDIA ANNUAL SUMMIT

Healthy People, Healthy Markets: Strategic Public-Private Partnership Delivering Results

Main Stage

• Go Further is a partnership between Merck, PEPFAR, UNAIDS, and the Bush Institute that ultimately aims to reduce new cervical cancer by 95% among women living with HIV. For Carmen Villar, the partnership serves as an important example of how the strategic coupling of women and adolescent girls’ health with economic empowerment has resulted in stronger, more vibrant communities. Holly Kuzmich explained the unique, synergistic role that each party involved in Go Further plays in the execution of the initiative: Merck brings much-needed health expertise, PEPFAR oversees on-the-ground implementation, UNAIDS engages civil society and leads advocacy efforts, and the Bush Institute leverages its convening power to ensure efforts are as coordinated as they can be. 
• In the two years since its inception, Go Further has made a tremendous amount of progress. According to Deborah Birx, the initiative has already reached over a million women with HIV, screening them for cervical cancer and treating them as appropriate. A staggering 87% of women who were screened for cervical cancer under Go Further had never been screened before. Over 6% of screened women had early lesions, while another 1.5% had invasive carcinoma of the cervix. These women are currently receiving lifesaving treatment. 

• Networks of local women living with HIV have been key drivers of Go Further. Shannon Hader explained that these women have raised awareness about cervical cancer within their communities, generated demand for screening, shared referrals, and provided much-needed feedback on the program’s services.

“Women, particularly in resource-limited settings, are not only providing for their family and the care of their children, but they’re also often the economic powerhouse in these families. So healthy women—healthy from an HIV perspective and healthy from cervical cancer—are really critical to ensure the foundational safety of the family,” Deborah Birx

• Sharon Kapambwe detailed the responsibilities of governments with respect to public-private partnerships. Governments, she posited, must provide coordination as well as robust policy direction. Moreover, they must ensure that investments receive adequate protection and that all actors involved exhibit mutual respect. Kapambwe also highlighted the crucial role that private sector-led partnerships in Zambia have played in bringing about women’s economic inclusion.