Mapping the Landscape of Public Health Entrepreneurship: A Scoping Review
Mapping the Landscape of Public Health Entrepreneurship: A Scoping Review

Summary/Abstract: Public health entrepreneurship (PHE) has been proposed as one way to support population health and health equity under resource constraints, but the peer-reviewed literature describing PHE initiatives remains fragmented. This scoping review maps the published English-language peer-reviewed literature on PHE initiatives and describes venture archetypes, sectoral focus, and recurring implementation features, documented alongside favourable outputs or outcomes. Guided by Arksey and O'Malley's framework and PRISMA-ScR, the review included 22 peer-reviewed studies (2011–2025) from PubMed, Scopus, and CINAHL. Four archetypes were identified: digital health innovations, community health entrepreneur models, social enterprise clinics, and institutional or system-strengthening ventures. Initiatives concentrated in primary and community health, digital health, nutrition and non-communicable diseases, maternal and sexual reproductive health, mental health and social inclusion, infectious diseases, and environmental health. The review identified recurring features reported in the literature, including community engagement, adaptive financing, cross-sector partnerships, service delivery adaptation, capacity building, policy or institutional alignment, and equity-sensitive monitoring. It also proposes an interpretive equity lens, informed by the included studies and wider equity literature, to help distinguish equity-oriented design from superficial equity claims.

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