2018 IAP Report: Private Sector: Who Is Accountable for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health (IAP Report, 2018)

Reference Summary (Article)

Abstract

This reference summary presents key information from the Independent Accountability Panel (IAP) 2018 report titled “Private Sector: Who Is Accountable for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health.” The report critically examines the expanding role of the private sector in global health within the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), emphasizing that while private actors contribute significantly to service delivery, innovation, and financing, their accountability remains insufficiently defined and weakly enforced. The analysis highlights persistent inequities in access to health services, medicines, and nutrition, and underscores that market-driven approaches alone cannot ensure equitable health outcomes. It introduces the IAP accountability framework—monitor, review, act, and remedy—and applies it to private sector engagement, identifying major gaps in regulation, transparency, data systems, and independent oversight. The report further explores key sectors including health service delivery, the pharmaceutical industry, and the food industry, demonstrating how unregulated practices can exacerbate inequalities, increase out-of-pocket expenditures, and contribute to rising non-communicable diseases. It calls for strengthened government stewardship, binding regulatory frameworks, improved data and monitoring systems, and global accountability mechanisms to align private sector activities with the right to health. The analysis reflects the work of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Independent Accountability Panel for Every Woman, Every Child, Every Adolescent (IAP: Alicia Ely Yamin, Carmen Barroso, Kul Chandra Gautam, Brenda Killen, Pali Lehohla, Winfred Lichuma, Elizabeth Mason, Giorgi Pkhakadze, and Dakshitha Wickremarathne), reinforcing that achieving universal health coverage and SDG targets requires robust, independent, and enforceable accountability across both public and private sectors.