title: Ethics in public health research: a research protocol to evaluate the effectiveness of public-private partnerships as a means to improve health and welfare systems worldwide.
abstract: Public-private partnerships have become a common approach to health care problems worldwide. Many public-private partnerships were created during the late 1990s, but most were focused on specific diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. Recently there has been enthusiasm for using public-private partnerships to improve the delivery of health and welfare services for a wider range of health problems, especially in developing countries. The success of public-private partnerships in this context appears to be mixed, and few data are available to evaluate their effectiveness. This analysis provides an overview of the history of health-related public-private partnerships during the past 20 years and describes a research protocol commissioned by the World Health Organization to evaluate the effectiveness of public-private partnerships in a research context.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif 94305-2047, USA. barr@stanford.edu
authors.forename: Donald A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Barr
mesh_terms: D002985:Clinical Protocols; D003906:Developing Countries; D032984:Ethics, Research; D006801:Humans; D007373:Interinstitutional Relations; D007391:International Cooperation; D008330:Management Audit; D009874:Operations Research; D009939:Organizations, Nonprofit; D017149:Private Sector / Q000941:ethics / Q000458:organization & administration*; D015397:Program Evaluation / Q000592:standards*; D011634:Public Health / Q000941:ethics*; D017150:Public Sector / Q000941:ethics / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012109:Research Support as Topic / Q000941:ethics / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012946:Social Welfare; D014495:Universities; D014944:World Health Organization