The landscape of public-private partnerships in global health governance - introducing a new dataset

Sep 28, 2026

The landscape of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in global health governance is shaped by state and non-state actors that channel major funding and influence policy priorities. While PPPs are widely promoted as inclusive multistakeholder spaces, there has been no recent comprehensive account of their scale and decision-making power distribution. This article introduces a dataset covering 73 PPPs across 630 actors. Analyses show that high-income country representatives hold 69% of board seats and reveal distinct partnership typologies, while inter-partnership governance can expand agency and autonomy.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages15

Reading Time38 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Background

Results

Conclusions

Background (PPPs in global health governance)

Shipton Globalization and Health (2026) 22:1 Globalization and Health [https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-025-01162-z](https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-025-01162-z) RESEARCH Open Access The landscape of public-private partnerships in global health governance: introducing a new dataset Leah Shipton 1* Abstract Background Global health public-private partnerships are prominent actors and forums for the governance of global health. They channel significant funding into global health and shape policy priorities and options for pressing health problems. Led by state and non-state actors, they are often championed as inclusive governing spaces. Despite their prominence, there is no up-to-date, comprehensive analysis of the quantity and qualities of global health publicprivate partnerships, including the distribution of decision-making power among their governing board members. Results This article analyzes a new dataset of 73 global health public-private partnerships governed by a total of 630 actors. These analyses offer three high-level insights. First, high-income country representatives hold 69% of seats on partnership governing boards. Thus, while public-private partnerships have expanded the types of actors that can participate in governance, there remain significant disparities in access to decision-making based on country incomelevel. Second, a typology of public-private partnerships based on the composition of decision-makers on governing boards is presented. The typology includes Business, Civil Society, Trio, and Super public-private partnerships, of which Trio and Civil Society partnerships are the most common. Third, as public-private partnerships themselves hold governing seats in 24 partnerships, this article lends support to the idea that some partnerships are gaining agency and autonomy in global health through inter-partnership cooperation. Additional analyses shed light on the timeline of the rise of public-private partnerships and a range of characteristics, including their headquarter location, function, health issues addressed, and legal status. Conclusions This article provides a big picture perspective on key patterns in the characteristics and distribution of decision-making power of global health public-private partnerships. Together, the analyses suggest that moving from multilateral governance through international organizations like the World Health Organization, to multistakeholder governance through public-private partnerships has contributed to a decrease in decision-making influence for low and middle-income countries and an increase for high-income countries. In doing so, it lays the groundwork for scholarly and practitioner debate about the appropriate distribution of decision-making power in global health governance. Keywords Public-private partnerships, Global health governance, Multistakeholder governance, Decision-making power, Inequity, Global health *Correspondence: Leah Shipton [lshipton@sfu.ca](lshipton@sfu.ca) 1School of Public Policy, Simon Fraser University, 515 West Hasting Street HC3265, Vancouver, BC V6B 5K3, Canada © The Author(s) 2025. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit [http://creativecommons.org/l](http://c

FAQs

What does the article analyze about global health PPPs?

It analyzes the quantity, characteristics, and distribution of decision-making power within and across active global health PPPs, using a newly introduced dataset.

What key finding is reported about representation on PPP governing boards?

High-income country representatives hold 69% of the seats on partnership governing boards.

How does the article categorize PPPs in its typology?

It presents a typology based on governing-board decision-maker composition, including Business, Civil Society, Trio, and Super partnerships, with Trio and Civil Society being most common.

Sep 28, 2026

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