Methods for studying private sector supply of public health products in developing countries: a conceptual framework and review

Lesong Conteh and Kara Hanson

Social Science & Medicine, 2003, vol. 57, issue 7, 1147-1161

Abstract: The private sector is an important supplier of public health products (PHPs) in developing countries. Although there are concerns about the quality and affordability of these products, private providers also offer possibilities for expanding access to key commodities. This paper proposes a conceptual framework for understanding the public health implications of private sales of PHPs. It reviews methods for studying these sales, together with their advantages and shortcomings. Ten methods are identified which can be used for studying the behaviour of providers and consumers. The effects of seasonal variation are discussed, together with the challenges of creating a sampling frame and studying illicit behaviour. We conclude that relatively little is known about the sales of PHPs, that more is known about contraceptives and drugs than about the newer products, and that the demand side of the market has been studied in greater depth than the behaviour of suppliers. The existing toolbox is biased towards formal providers, and thus, probably towards understanding the provision of PHPs to those who are better off. Methods for studying the supply of PHPs in outlets used by poor people is a priority area for further methodological development.

Keywords: Public; health; products; Private; sector; Markets; Provider; behaviour; Developing; countries (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2003
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277-9536(02)00491-4
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:socmed:v:57:y:2003:i:7:p:1147-1161

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
http://www.elsevier. ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

Access Statistics for this article

Social Science & Medicine is currently edited by Ichiro (I.) Kawachi and S.V. (S.V.) Subramanian

More articles in Social Science & Medicine from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().