Hushie Martin
Department of Behavioural Sciences, School of Allied Health Sciences, University for Development Studies, P.O. Box 1883, Tamale, N/R, Ghana.
BMC Public Health. 2016 Sep 13;16(1):963. doi: 10.1186/s12889-016-3636-2.
The last few decades have seen a dramatic increase in public-non-governmental organisation (NGO) partnerships in the health sector of many low- and middle- income countries (LMICs) as a means of improving the public's health. However, little research has focused to date on the nature, facilitators and barriers of these partnerships.
In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with 17 participants from five different NGOs and their collaboration with state partners in the Ghanaian health sector at the national and local levels in four regions of the country (Northern, Upper East, Greater Accra, and Eastern) to explore the drivers and nature of these partnerships and their advantages and disadvantages in the effort to improve the public's health.
Major findings reveal that: 1) each collaboration between civil society organisations (CSOs) and the state in the health sector demands different partnerships; 2) partnership types can range from equal, formal contractual, decentralized to advocacy ones; 3) commitment by the state and NGOs to work in collaboration lead to improved service delivery, reduced health inequities and disparities; 4) added value of NGOs lies in their knowledge, expertise, community legitimacy, ability to attract donor funding and implementation capacity to address health needs in geographical areas or communities where the government does not reach and for services, which it does not provide and 5) success factors and challenges to be considered, moving forward to promote such partnerships in other LMICs.
Recommendations are offered for NGOs, governments, donors, and future research including studying the organisational effectiveness and sustainability of these partnerships to deliver effective and efficient health outcomes to recommend universal best practices in health care.
在过去几十年里，许多低收入和中等收入国家（LMICs）卫生部门的公共部门与非政府组织（NGO）之间的伙伴关系急剧增加，以此作为改善公众健康的一种手段。然而，迄今为止，很少有研究关注这些伙伴关系的性质、促进因素和障碍。
对来自五个不同非政府组织的17名参与者及其与加纳卫生部门国家和地方层面的国家伙伴在该国四个地区（北部、上东部、大阿克拉和东部）的合作进行了深入的定性访谈，以探讨这些伙伴关系的驱动因素和性质，以及它们在改善公众健康方面的优缺点。
主要研究结果表明：1）民间社会组织（CSO）与国家在卫生部门的每一次合作都需要不同的伙伴关系；2）伙伴关系类型可以从平等、正式合同、分散到倡导型；3）国家和非政府组织合作的承诺导致服务提供得到改善，健康不平等和差距减少；4）非政府组织的附加值在于其知识、专业知识、社区合法性、吸引捐助资金的能力以及在政府无法覆盖的地理区域或社区满足健康需求和提供政府不提供的服务的实施能力；5）在其他低收入和中等收入国家促进此类伙伴关系时需要考虑的成功因素和挑战。
为非政府组织、政府、捐助者和未来研究提供了建议，包括研究这些伙伴关系的组织有效性和可持续性，以实现有效和高效的健康成果，从而推荐普遍适用的医疗保健最佳实践。
