The CCA HIV/AIDS Initiative was established in September 2003 through a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to assist CCA members in addressing a perceived deterrent to trade and investment on the continent: HIV/AIDS. In 2008, the program became the "HIV/AIDS & Health Initiative," expanding its objective to promote commercial investment opportunities in the African health care sector in addition to continuing its work facilitating and promoting the corporate sector's response to the HIV/AIDS crisis.
Mission
The HIV/AIDS & Health Initiative works with CCA members to advance African health care outcomes through leveraging resources and brokering creative partnerships that bring together the knowledge of locally-based non-government organizations (NGOs) and governments with the technical know-how, investment resources and market expertise of the private sector.
Program Mechanisms
CCA believes that Africa's capacity for economic growth will rest on the existence of a healthy workforce and energetic entrepreneurs. In order to lessen the negative impact that infectious diseases and chronic health conditions have on business productivity and to improve the general wellbeing of workers and their families, CCA promotes the development of sustainable, robust, and efficient systems for health care delivery throughout the nations and regions of Africa, and identifies and brokers partnerships and investment opportunities between a wide variety of stakeholders to achieve these goals.
Though there has been a great deal of debate in academic and policymaking circles on whether the public or private sector is the most appropriate provider of health services, statistics from the IFC and other sources indicate that significant numbers of Africans turn to private providers for health care. Given the present reality, CCA's HIV/AIDS & Health Initiative advocates that a strengthened private health sector is in many cases a more efficient vehicle to expand access to and improve the delivery of health care on the continent and that private enterprise can be effectively channeled to support public health goals. The Initiative works to align the objectives and activities of U.S. and African private practitioners and health companies with those of public health sector professionals and policymakers.
Specifically, the program catalyzes partnerships between its members and other representatives of the commercial private sector and CCA Initiative resource partners including funding organizations, enabling partners and technical assistance providers that result in innovative new ventures for addressing Africa's health challenges. The program also seeks to engage our member companies in providing synergistic linkages between their workforces and ongoing community-based initiatives that expand access to treatment and care for infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, as well as maternal and reproductive health, chronic disease, and other health challenges.
In the past, CCA has played a role in developing national private sector business coalitions against HIV/AIDS as a means by which to achieve a united country-level, private sector response to the crisis. Going forward, as the global health community increasingly points to the need for general health systems strengthening in the developing countries as a means by which to sustain the recent success of disease-specific initiatives, CCA will work to bring the private sector's voice to the table in the development and implementation of African national health agendas in cooperation with the public sector and civil society throughout the African continent.
Program Objectives
- Identify and broker partnerships and investment opportunities for CCA members to leverage resources and develop programs to enhance private sector investment in African health care;
- Support the continuing development and evolution of National Business Coalitions against HIV/AIDS in Africa facilitating private sector leadership in the fight against HIV/AIDS;
- Engage member corporations in market-driven approaches to the development and improvement of health infrastructure in Africa;
- Assist member corporations to define and develop corporate social responsibility portfolios that enhance their brand profile and address critic health requirements on the continent;
- Link the private sector to international and multinational resources to leverage support for the continuing development of healthcare delivery in Africa;
- Enhance the leadership role and profile of the private sector in fight HIV/AIDS and other debilitating diseases in Africa;
- Provide a state-of-the-art on-line database of tools and resources to facilitate private sector engagement and maximize distribution and application of proven strategies and policies to address HIV/AIDS (All Africa database);
- Convene forums to inform and shape the private sector approach to health in Africa and to provide venues for private sector leadership in addressing HIV/AIDS and other health issues on the continent.
