ABSTRACT
Various forms of 'working together' have been advocated in the public health field since the 1980s. A number of global institutions, such as the WHO and the UN Millennium Project, have highlighted the importance of co-ordinated, co-operative and sustained strategies, across sectors, professions and disciplines, as well as with the community, for improving the prerequisites for health and reducing health inequalities. Partnership has been advocated as the solution to a multitude of health and social welfare problems. Evaluation of partnerships is, however, fraught with difficulties, particularly in relation to attributing the consequences of partnership working to specific health outcomes. In England, the extensive restructuring of the public health system has at its core a variety of partnership structures. The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), which promotes the immunization of all the world's children, is described as a public-private global public health partnership.
