The relevance of the public–private partnership paradigm to the prevention of diet-associated non-communicable diseases in wealthy countries

Abstract

The public–private partnership (PPP) paradigm emerged as a form of global health governance in the mid-1990s to overcome state and market failures constraining access to essential medicines among populations with limited purchasing power in low- and middle-income countries. PPPs are now ubiquitous across the development spectrum. Yet while the narrative that the private sector must be engaged if complex health challenges are to be overcome is now dominant in development discourse, it does not yet appear to be shaping government approaches to addressing health inequalities within high-income welfare states such as Canada. This is significant as both the actions and inactions of firms factor heavily into why low-income Canadians face a disproportionate risk of developing diet-associated chronic diseases, such as type II diabetes. In the same ways PPPs have been an effective policy tool for strengthening public health in poor countries, this paper illuminates how the PPP model may have utility for mitigating poverty-associated food insecurity giving rise to diet-associated non-communicable diseases within the context of wealthy states.

Keywords:

• public–private partnerships
• poverty
• food insecurity
• non-communicable diseases
• reverse innovation

Acknowledgements

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 55th annual International Studies Association Convention, on 29th March 2014, in Toronto. For feedback on earlier drafts I am grateful to Mattias Hofferberth, and three anonymous reviewers.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.