Moving beyond fragmented knowledge: Towards a research agenda for Health public–private partnership

Public–private partnerships are frequently advocated by policy makers as a means of financing the expansion of universal health coverage, particularly across the Global South. In this article we argue that despite this preference for public–private partnerships and the proliferation of accompanying research, much of our understanding of the impact of Health public–private partnerships is based on evidence from the Global North, and we only have fragmented scholarship on their effects. Little attention has been given to the (gendered) inequality impacts of Health public–private partnerships and the systemic nature of their impacts. By deploying a macro-meso-micro analytical framework, we identify some of the most significant knowledge gaps and call for a more systemic approach to craft a renewed research agenda. We argue that it is key to deepening our understanding of the systemic impacts of Health public–private partnerships and building a more comprehensive body of evidence to better inform policy choices.