Public private partnership adoption, local content utilization and value for money in the Ugandan health sector

Abstract

The study examined the relationship between Public Private Partnerships adoption and Value for Money in the Ugandan Health sector. It also analysed how local content utilization can moderate the relationship between Public Private Partnerships adoption and Value for Money in the Ugandan Health sector. More so, the study sought to find out whether there was value for money in the Ugandan health sector. The researcher used an explanatory sequential research design to ascertain the relationship between the different variables of the study with a combination of both qualitative and quantitative methodological approaches. A closed-ended questionnaire and a semi-structured interview guide were used to collect data from a sample size of 192 respondents. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 20, where the Spearman man’s rank correlation and ordinal regressions were run to obtain the relationship between the different variables of the current study. The findings revealed that the average cost of PPPs in Regional Referral Hospitals (RRH) was between 600M-900M with 66.4% of PPP projects addressing Service Provision and majority of PPP projects span from 4-6 years in the Ugandan health sector. The findings of the study further revealed that there is a positive significant relationship between Infrastructure Demand and Value for Money, a weak positive significant relationship between PSFC and Value for Money, a moderate positive significant relationship between Construction Management and Value for Money and a modest positive significant relationship between Public Private Partnerships adoption and Value for Money in the Ugandan Health sector (r=.257**, p<.01). Furthermore, study findings reveal a weak moderating effect of Local Content Utilization on the relationship between Public Private Partnerships adoption and Value for Money in the Ugandan Health sector. The study concluded that there is a positive significant relationship between Public Private Partnerships adoption and Value for Money in the Ugandan Health sector and there is no significant moderating role between Local Content Utilization and the relationship between Public Private Partnerships adoption and Value for Money in the Ugandan Health sector. The study recommends that the PPPs should be adopted as an alternative financing mechanism, sensitizing various stakeholders should be embraced to streamline the governance and implementation of PPPs in the health sector, human capacity building should be emphasized in local content utilization as well as subsidization of financial resources rendered to Local firms from financial institutions.