●Partnership Typologies

Not all public-private partnerships look the same. Our dataset shows that clearly. Explore how we define different types of partnerships below.

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About Our Partnership Typologies

Our typology groups public-private partnerships into different categories  based on the composition of their governing boards.

We also trace the rise of global health public-private partnerships, which have skyrocketed in number since the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Key Findings

  • There are four different types of partnerships: Business, Civil Society, Trio, and Super.

  • By far, civil society and trio public-private partnerships are the most common.

  • Business public-private partnerships, which only include a public sector and for-profit sector actor, are the least common type of partnership. 

  • Counter to existing belief, super public-private partnerships existed before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Typologies Defined

  • Definition

    Board members include at least one public sector (state or international organization) and at least one for-profit company or industry representative (company or industry association). There are no other private sector board members. This is the least common type of partnership.

    Examples

    • Innovative Health Initiative

    • International Conference on Harmonization of Technical Requirements for Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use

  • Definition

    Board members include at least one public sector representative and at least one not-for-profit private sector representative. There are no for-profit board members. This is the second-most common type of partnership.

    Key Traits

    • Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research

    • Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative

    • Global Financing Facility

    • Global Polio Eradication Initiative

    • Global Road Safety Facility

    • Unitaid

  • Definition

    Board members include at least one public sector, one for-profit private sector, and one not-for-profit private sector representative. This is the most common type of partnership.

    Key Traits

    • Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations

    • Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics

    • Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance

    • Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria (The Global Fund)

    • Pandemic Fund

    • Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN Movement)

    • Stop TB Partnership

    • UHC2030

  • Definition

    At least 20% of board members are existing public-private partnerships of any type. This is the second least common type of partnership.

    Why the 20% threshold? Existing public-private partnerships hold seats in 24 of the 73 partnerships in the dataset. So, it is actually quite common for them to be on governing boards. The 20% threshold was put in place to make sure the super public-private partnership category is substantially different from the other partnership types.

    Key Traits

    • Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator*

    • Food Fortification Initiative

    • Global Alliance for Vitamin A

    • Global Oxygen Alliance

    • Global Water Operators Partnership Alliance

    *This partnership was most active during the COVID-19 response. It is no longer operating at full capacity, but is still used as a forum to discuss emerging infectious disease threats like mpox and H5N1 (Avian influenza).