Karl Hofmann, a career American diplomat and now president of the nonprofit health organization PSI, talks to On Leadership editor Lillian Cunningham about integrating public- and private-sector solutions to health crises facing the developing world.

Small interventions in public health really work

They really do work to improve the health of populations. Let’s work with the private sector, which after all can get a bottle of Coke to the most remote village in Africa. If they can do that, then we ought to be able to get a condom there, too. And we ought to be able to get safe drinking water there.

In Southern Africa, for instance, the HIV epidemic is the highest. For years, we and others have been pumping condoms into that environment. Just thinking if we could get enough condoms there, we could turn the tide. And I think we have to be honest, that hasn’t worked. So we have to be creative about different approaches. Different interventions need to be brought to a problem that we thought was simple.

The sick people that we are trying to help are not suffering from simply one disease, they are suffering from a variety of health problems. They have integrated problems. We ought to bring integrated solutions.

For the full interview, go to washingtonpost.com/leadership.