Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the private sector in advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights outcomes in developing countries.

The UK government considers the private sector, both for-profit and not-for-profit, to be critical to the successful delivery of sexual and reproductive health programmes and outcomes in developing countries.

DFID works with private manufacturers to develop new products such as contraceptives and HIV treatment, and to reduce their prices so that they are accessible. For example, a global partnership between donors and manufacturers led to a decrease in price of contraceptive implants globally from $20 per unit to $8, leading to increased access and uptake. DFID also funds not-for-profit providers to implement reproductive health programmes in many countries; and supports national governments to work with private health care providers as part of their overall health system. We support global programmes that attract the private sector's contribution, such as the Global Financing Facility, and we also recognise that global companies can have an impact through their employment practices and work with them to improve sexual and reproductive health for female employees.