Philippine health and law experts gathered in Makati City on August 10 for a roundtable discussion on uplifting health standards worldwide through Public Private Partnerships (PPP).
The discussion, hosted by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and ADEC Innovations Foundation, was conducted to gather insights on how PPP can be used to provide universal access to healthcare.
Earlier on August 7, three days before the roundtable discussion, UNECE and ADEC had signed a Joint Statement of Cooperation and agreed to deepen cooperation between parties that will lead to an eventual Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the Manila-based International Specialist Centre for Excellence for PPP in Health.
The roundtable discussion was the first official activity under the UNECE-ADEC partnership and was attended by experts such as Geoffrey Hamilton, UNECE Chief of the Cooperation and Partnership Section; James Donovan, Chairman of ADEC Innovations Foundation; Dr. Enrique Ona, former Philippine Health Secretary; Atty. Alberto Agra, Certified Public-Private Partnership Specialist, and Architect Jun Palafox, among others.
Hamilton noted that the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) call for PPPs to address global problems, including health issues.
The SDGs, with 17 components, will be officially launched in New York in September 2015. The SDGs will replace the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) agreed to by the representative from member states during the Millennium Summit in 2000.
Some of the MDGs include eradicating poverty and hunger; promoting gender equality; combating HIV/AIDS; and ensuring environmental sustainability, among others.
On the other hand, the new SDGs foster participatory process that revitalizes global partnership for sustainable development. The SDGs also strengthen the means of implementation through finance, technology, capacity building, policy and institutional coherence, multi-stakeholder partnerships, data monitoring and accountability, among others.
Hamilton said the Philippines, through ADEC Innovations Foundation, will play a key role in the achievement of the SDGs related to health.
ADEC Innovations, a global impact investing company with businesses in the areas of sustainability, education, healthcare, technology, and data management, will oversee the Makati-based International Specialist Centre of Excellence for PPP in Health.
The main goal of the specialist centre is to collate best practices for PPP in health from around the world which would be the basis for global PPP standards.
Hamilton noted that all UN standards go through a rigid seven-step process of approval. As governments around the world have to comply by these standards, he said these should be “easily understood and easily tested.”
These standards should also possess two important characteristics: they should have a great impact on the general welfare of the people and be easy to replicate anywhere in the world.
Donovan, a recipient of the United Nations Visionary Award in 2014, said he is grateful that ADEC’s extensive experience in managing big data will be useful in the collation of health data from around the world.
Donovan set up ADEC in the Philippines 20 years ago with his Filipina business partner, Carol Esguerra, the Chief Financial Officer. The company now has 5,500 employees in Asia, Africa, Australia, North America, and Europe processing over 30 million transactions every month.
Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in Health is a global research and information platform for the collaboration of ideas to identify, develop and maintain international PPP standards, share best practices, and promote cooperation on PPP in health.
The Centre is located at the 26/F Philippine AXA Life Centre, Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue 1200 Makati City, Philippines and can be contacted at +63 (02) 775 0632 local 8313.
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