The WHO’s Health Systems Governance Unit together with the WHO region for Africa and the WHO region for the Eastern Mediterranean undertook a joint landscaping to better understand current approaches to engage with the private sector in health, and governance of the private sector in health. The study reinforced the awareness on the growth in the scope and role of the private sector in health service delivery in Africa. The COVID-19 pandemic has notably served to reinforce the need to engage with the private sector in health in the continent and have exposed the limitations of not having a strategy or the corresponding resources, the “skill and will” necessary to effectively work with the private sector in health.