Call for greater private sector engagement in the fight against NCDs: Interview with Malikatou Djermakoye

---

Extract from the article: As non-communicable diseases (NCDs) continue to increase and external funding declines, mobilizing the private sector has become essential to sustainably strengthen prevention efforts in Africa. In this interview, Malikatou Djermakoye, a development

---

« Investing in the prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is not a social expense; it is an economic investment. »

As non-communicable diseases (NCDs) continue to increase and external funding declines, mobilizing the private sector has become essential to sustainably strengthen prevention efforts in Africa. In this interview, Malikatou Djermakoye, a development economist and strategic advocacy expert for health policies, explains why businesses should become strategic partners in the fight against NCDs and calls for sustainable and structured financing mechanisms.

Health-Education: Why should the private sector become an essential player in the prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCDs)?

Malikatou Djermakoye: The decline in external funding is no longer temporary; it is structural. Official development assistance fell from $216 billion to $174 billion between 2024 and 2025. The United States withdrew from the WHO in January 2026, and many long-standing partners are gradually reducing their engagement in Africa. African countries can therefore no longer rely on these funding flows to sustainably finance prevention efforts.

Yet NCDs are not only a health issue; they also have a direct impact on the economy. The WHO estimates global productivity losses linked to NCDs at around $2.4 trillion annually, due to absenteeism, reduced productivity, premature mortality and household impoverishment.

The private sector is therefore directly affected by this burden. It is a legitimate and concerned stakeholder, not merely an external donor. Investing in prevention is not a social expense; it is an economic investment in productivity and workforce stability.

What are the main obstacles to mobilizing the private sector?

Three major obstacles arise systematically. First, companies do not know exactly what to finance because NGOs often fail to present clear proposals. Health is still perceived as being exclusively the responsibility of the State. Second, the private sector does not always feel legitimate in intervening in this area because there is no structured framework to turn goodwill into action. Finally, the return on investment remains difficult to see. Companies do not always perceive the concrete benefits of their contribution because they are not provided with measurable indicators and results.

This is precisely where the field experience of NGOs becomes valuable. It makes it possible to demonstrate, through concrete cases, that a clearly defined health need can become a fundable, measurable and credible project.

Which mechanism do you consider most appropriate, depending on the context?

Several models are possible. I will outline four: a national NCD fund financed by several economic sectors, such as banks, insurance companies, telecommunications and agribusiness; strategic, multi-year corporate social responsibility (CSR) aligned with measurable objectives; workplace health programmes, including screening and prevention activities directly at the workplace; and, finally, public-private-NGO co-financing, in which each stakeholder brings its own strengths: the State provides the framework and policies, the private sector contributes funding and innovation, while NGOs ensure implementation and proximity to communities.

The choice of the most appropriate mechanism depends on the local economic environment and the level of maturity of public-private dialogue in the country concerned. Where the banking and telecommunications sectors are strong, a national fund supported by several economic sectors can provide a broad and sustainable financing base.

Where companies are primarily seeking to protect their own workforce, workplace health is often the quickest entry point to mobilize, as the benefits to the company itself are immediate and direct.

In all cases, public-private-NGO co-financing remains the most structuring framework in the long term because it clearly distributes responsibilities and prevents a single stakeholder from carrying the entire risk.

How can companies be convinced that this is a profitable investment and not simply a CSR activity?

We need to speak the language that companies already understand: profitability. Companies know how to measure the return on their investments. NCD prevention can be expressed in the same language through tools such as return on investment (ROI), social return on investment (SROI), quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER).

A franc invested today in prevention helps avoid healthcare costs, productivity losses and premature deaths tomorrow. It is a simple principle that any financial decision-maker can immediately understand.

In practical terms, this means replacing statements of intent with figures. Rather than saying, “We want to raise awareness,” it is necessary to be able to specify: “We will reach 5,000 young people in 20 schools, at a cost of such amount per beneficiary.”

A modest investment in collective activities, particularly screening, awareness campaigns and physical activity sessions, can already reach hundreds of people at low cost. This directly addresses the cost-impact ratio sought by companies.

What message would you like to convey to public authorities, the private sector and technical partners?

NCDs are no longer simply a health challenge. They are also an issue of economic development, competitiveness and human capital. No single stakeholder can address this challenge alone.

The State can no longer bear this burden in isolation, and companies should no longer be viewed as occasional donors, but as strategic partners in a collective investment in the health of populations.

Field experience shows that collaboration based on five conditions, trust, transparency, clear indicators, regular communication and demonstrated impact, produces concrete results, even with limited resources.

Conversely, we must avoid mistakes that discourage partners: asking only for money without reporting on results, multiplying small projects without an overall strategy, or overlooking SMEs in favour of large companies alone.

The central message is about scaling up: moving from isolated and fragmented initiatives to a genuine sustainable and structured financing model for NCD prevention, jointly developed by the State, the private sector and technical partners, with each playing its respective role.

Interview by William O.