How Can Business Fight Ebola?

Health
61

Thanks everyone for a great discussion!

62


Adding to Penelope point in the past we have seen Collaboration between Agility, TNT, UPS and Maersk helped to save lives by getting relief supplies quickly and effectively to people after the earthquake in Haiti and the flooding in Pakistan in 2010. These organizations then built on that experience to support the work of the World Food Programme in the Horn of Africa drought in 2011. Google has developed an application to help find people displaced after crises, which was used in Pakistan during the floods and in New Zealand and Japan following earthquakes in 2010 and 2011 respectively; in Japan, thousands of records were uploaded on the first day. While not a comprehensive list of private sector support, these examples show that private sector contribution during a humanitarian crisis can be innovative, timely and crucial to saving lives.
Penelope Anderson said:

Jo-Ann, I would say that the private sector can play a powerful role in social mobilization -- for example, through technology to reach far-flung communities with information on how to keep themselves safe. This outbreak has seen impressive use of mobile technologies to spread messages and capture real-time data.

Jo-Ann Pohl said:

More than 20,000 people here have suffered from the disease, and more than 10,000 have died – this, in a country that has spent more than a decade recovering from a devastating civil war. The numbers don't quite stack up to the common cold, however what can we do to expedite R&D into delivering a vaccine / immunisation? Your thoughts on the need to build on the work done by ISOS and WHO to educate and create better awareness around EVD?



Andy Wright said:

The best way to respond is by being there already. If a business has a presence in the country, it can mount a local response. For example, we have a business in the affected countries which reinvests some of its profits back into training healthcare workers. By investing in the infrastructure in this way, we can - in the longer term - help create a more resilient healthcare system that can respond to outbreaks and mitigate them when they do.



Zahid Torres-Rahman said:

Thanks for all the insights so far. Let's move on to question 2:

Q2: What have we learned from the on-going ebola outbreak about how to successfully mobilise a business response, and where are the business innovations happening?

63

David, that is indeed one of the opportunities. There is a lot of interest in more efficient mobile money in Liberia as well.

David Easton said:

The crisis also saw a big leap forward for mobile payments, at least in Sierra Leone. It forced the networks to work together and allow interoperability which allowed the rapid payment of thousands of rural health workers who otherwise weren't being paid (and understandably, weren't willing to work until they did). Hopefully an improved mobile payments infrastructure will be a positive legacy of the crisis.



Penelope Anderson said:

Jo-Ann, I would say that the private sector can play a powerful role in social mobilization -- for example, through technology to reach far-flung communities with information on how to keep themselves safe. This outbreak has seen impressive use of mobile technologies to spread messages and capture real-time data.

Jo-Ann Pohl said:

More than 20,000 people here have suffered from the disease, and more than 10,000 have died – this, in a country that has spent more than a decade recovering from a devastating civil war. The numbers don't quite stack up to the common cold, however what can we do to expedite R&D into delivering a vaccine / immunisation? Your thoughts on the need to build on the work done by ISOS and WHO to educate and create better awareness around EVD?



Andy Wright said:

The best way to respond is by being there already. If a business has a presence in the country, it can mount a local response. For example, we have a business in the affected countries which reinvests some of its profits back into training healthcare workers. By investing in the infrastructure in this way, we can - in the longer term - help create a more resilient healthcare system that can respond to outbreaks and mitigate them when they do.



Zahid Torres-Rahman said:

Thanks for all the insights so far. Let's move on to question 2:

Q2: What have we learned from the on-going ebola outbreak about how to successfully mobilise a business response, and where are the business innovations happening?

64

Hi Chason Smith. I am a Partnerships Advisor at USAID. We are proud to be able to partner with the private sector, NGOs, country governments, and local communities in responding to the Ebola epidemic. The private sector played a important role responding early in the epidemic.

We are actively looking to build partnerships with the private sector and civil society to respond to the epidemic and support a strong recovery.

Most recently we released a call for concepts around food security and agriculture: THE FEED THE FUTURE EBOLA RECOVERY PARTNERSHIP IN WEST AFRICA (http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/search-grants.html) and will look for opportunities to partner in other sectors.

Feel free to contact me with public-private partnership ideas: chasmith@usaid.gov



Zahid Torres-Rahman said:

Really useful insights being shared here! Let's move on to our third and final question:

Q3: How can public-private collaboration enhance the impact of business’s contribution?

65

Couldn't agree more. Energy is hugely important. Both at the grid level and at the home level. The link to mobile payments is also important in facilitating "pay as you go solar" - that has been the innovation that has really transformed the affordability (and therefore growth trajectory) of solar home systems in East Africa.



Penelope Anderson said:

One more comment on the importance of energy, and the opportunity in Liberia. Medium and long term business investments can support economic development and address some of the factors/systemic constraints which have been issues all along but which are pronounced in crisis. Mercy Corps is launching a program called ‘Light up Liberia’ later this year which will invest in local capacity for solar assembly and distribution of improved solar home products and small community grids through partnerships with private sector energy service companies. Currently, only 2 per cent of Liberians have access to modern sources of electricity and are paying some of the highest tariffs on the continent. Our research has shown that households save considerably when they have access to basic lighting and charging with solar. These household savings were important before the Ebola crisis and remain even more relevant now when households are struggling to meet basic household needs.

66

right. there are many instances where overlaps are seen. The private sector businesses seems to be in competition with each other in Sierra Leone and in some cases wanting to build a "reputation" over some government MDAs influnced by personal motivations and most has been for political favor, hence they would want to be seen in the frontline doing almost everything and not necessary wanting to be a part of a coordinated body.


David Easton said:

Can I ask people what they felt *didn't* work well in terms of collaboration?

I wasn't in Freetown or Monrovia during the crisis, but from speaking to those who did, it seemed that coordination between different actors (understandably) wasn't exactly perfect and there were instances of overlap and people pulling in different directions.

Did people see that with the private sector too?

67

That brings us to the end of this live segment of this written discussion. We'll leave this forum open, so please do continue to post your comments.

Thank you to our panellists, to those who posted questions and comments, and to everyone else who joined us today.

We'll be doing a summary of the discussion that we'll share shortly.

For more on this topic, be sure to read our blog series this week:

This discussion and the related articles are part of this month's People focus within our Business and the SDGs programme. For more on the SDGs, vist our Knowledge Zone here: http://sdgs.businessfightspoverty.org/

68

Great to see the commitment and interest to making a difference. Thank you all!

69

Thanks all for an interesting discussion. Look forward to it continuing.

Zahid Torres-Rahman said:

That brings us to the end of this live segment of this written discussion. We'll leave this forum open, so please do continue to post your comments.

Thank you to our panellists, to those who posted questions and comments, and to everyone else who joined us today.

We'll be doing a summary of the discussion that we'll share shortly.

For more on this topic, be sure to read our blog series this week:

This discussion and the related articles are part of this month's People focus within our Business and the SDGs programme. For more on the SDGs, vist our Knowledge Zone here: http://sdgs.businessfightspoverty.org/

70

Very timely and useful discussion - thank you to all participants for making the time.

71


Great thank you for including us. Look forward to continuing to the discussion and supporting the communities in West Africa
Andy Wright said:

Thanks all for an interesting discussion. Look forward to it continuing.

Zahid Torres-Rahman said:

That brings us to the end of this live segment of this written discussion. We'll leave this forum open, so please do continue to post your comments.

Thank you to our panellists, to those who posted questions and comments, and to everyone else who joined us today.

We'll be doing a summary of the discussion that we'll share shortly.

For more on this topic, be sure to read our blog series this week:

This discussion and the related articles are part of this month's People focus within our Business and the SDGs programme. For more on the SDGs, vist our Knowledge Zone here: http://sdgs.businessfightspoverty.org/

72



Chason Smith said:

Hi Chason Smith. I am a Partnerships Advisor at USAID. We are proud to be able to partner with the private sector, NGOs, country governments, and local communities in responding to the Ebola epidemic. The private sector played a important role responding early in the epidemic.

We are actively looking to build partnerships with the private sector and civil society to respond to the epidemic and support a strong recovery.

Most recently we released a call for concepts around food security and agriculture: THE FEED THE FUTURE EBOLA RECOVERY PARTNERSHIP IN WEST AFRICA (http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/search-grants.html) and will look for opportunities to partner in other sectors. Feel free to contact me with ideas: chasmith@usaid.gov

Chason, this is Kathryn from World Vision - I think the Feed the Future Ebola Recovery opportunity is wonderful - one of the challenges that need to be addressed though is the hidden psycho-social impact that the pandemic has on families lives' - including those of survivors and often - breadwinners of households that now have to cater for additional family members and neighbors. Is USAID considering a more holistic approach of livelihoods' strengthening, local economic recovery support AND incorporating psychosocial support for those that have been severely affected by the recent experiences in their contexts - i.e. loosing family members, exposed to the stress of potential continuous infection, loss of income, shelter (which often were burnt in the early days and not disinfected, if confirmed cases had been taken away)...?



Zahid Torres-Rahman said:

Really useful insights being shared here! Let's move on to our third and final question:

Q3: How can public-private collaboration enhance the impact of business’s contribution?

73

Hi Penelope,

I will be in Liberia on 6 july, can we meet?

74

I am Cornelis Heesbeen of AUXFIN,

How can public-private collaboration enhance the impact of business’s contribution?

Almost everything i needed, but in my opinion in a region as affected as these 3 countries now there is the possibility to organize things in a good way.
We are asked by Guinea to organize an insurance but how to connect the rural families who are traumatic at this time, in the same time how to (re)structure the Rural Financial Infrastructure. We want to install our UMVA platform with free of charge financial services for all our members, including international transfers by migrants, and work on food security like we do in Burundi.

As a company with economical principles, my view and experience is that development organizations are very competitive and not really working together.

75
Thank you BFP for hosting this discussion. I and our team at E&K Health Consulting (http://www.e-kconsulting.com) published an article on BFP website in which we proposed a 3 point strategy for private-sector (business) participation to fight Ebola (http://community.businessfightspoverty.org/m/blogpost?id=2014886%3ABlogPost%3A202352). In brief we proposed: 1. Public private partnerships (PPPs) between African governments and pharmaceutical/biotechnological companies some of which are keen to increase and diversify their investments in Africa. 2. Investment diversification in research and development (R&D). A case in point is the recent announcement on March 31 by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to invest approximately 130 million pounds in R&D in Africa GSK Press release 31 march 2014. Another example is the growing investment by Novartis in capacity building for research in Africa through the Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research (NIBR) and Novartis Africa University Novartis. 3. Engaging with pharmaceutical companies and negotiating for mutually beneficial partnerships. For instance, governments can offer laboratory spaces at their public universities (most of which are not fully utilized and ill-equipped) to pharmaceutical companies at a subsidized rate (thus attracting pharma companies to set up R&D laboratory with government as opposed to leasing out expensive laboratory space in the general market). In return, governments should negotiate to have therapies and vaccines against bugs like the Ebola virus included in the research objectives of these R&D labs and for ownership of these laboratories after the PPPs lapse. Public universities should also negotiate capacity building agreements with these pharmaceutical companies whereby university staff work at these R&D labs as they are trained in biomedical specialties. In the short term pharmaceutical companies will save on R&D costs since they do not have to import all their personnel from outside Africa to work in these labs. In the long term public universities will build capacity that can continue to work on these research objectives beyond the terms of the PPPs.