- New streamlined financing scheme to accelerate hospital pharmaceutical investment across sub-Saharan Africa
- EIB to provide $105 million for a health resilience investment initiative while Afreximbank will provide an additional $105 million
- First EIB intermediated support for health investment in Africa unveiled at 5th United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries in Doha
Africa- The European Investment Bank (EIB), the world’s largest multilateral bank, and Afreximbank, the pan-African multilateral financial institution, have joined forces to enhance healthcare and pharmaceutical investment across sub-Saharan Africa and strengthen health resilience on the continent.
The new $210 million health investment initiative was formally launched by EIB Vice President Thomas Östros and Afreximbank Executive Vice President Denys Denya at the 5th United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries taking place in Doha, Qatar.
Afreximbank and EIB will each provide $105 million new investment to update and expand public healthcare facilities and enhance the production of safe, affordable, and effective medicines across sub-Saharan Africa.
This is EIB’s first dedicated backing for intermediated health investment in Africa.
The new Africa health financing initiative, part of the European Union Global Gateway initiative, has been designed by health, financial and technical experts from EIB and Afreximbank to unlock crucial investment to improve access to local healthcare and scale-up production of medicines essential to tackle deadly diseases such as cancer, HIV, malaria and tuberculosis.
“As part of Team Europe, the European Investment Bank supports high-impact health investment around the world. The new EIB-Afreximbank health resilience initiative will unlock EUR 200 million of financing to strengthen health resilience across sub-Saharan Africa by improving access to healthcare and increasing local pharmaceutical manufacturing. This targeted financing cooperation between the EIB and leading financial partner Afreximbank demonstrates how the partnership between Europe and Africa is improving lives and unlocking priority health investment.” said Thomas Östros, European Investment Bank Vice President.
Denys Denya said:
“The coronavirus pandemic highlighted how the health of millions of Africans is uniquely threatened by limited access to both effective healthcare and affordable medicines. Afreximbank is pleased to join forces with the European Investment Bank to provide a co-lending facility of EUR 200 million to improve effective responses to health challenges across sub-Saharan Africa. This investment will build on the success of our existing cooperation designed to enhance access to finance by companies impacted by the pandemic and climate change-induced challenges.”
Improving access to healthcare across Africa
The rapid expansion of affordable public healthcare is crucial to improve public health in Africa.
The new EIB-Afreximbank initiative will support new investment in health facilities, including the construction and equipment of clinics and hospitals, essential to enable rapid treatment of communicable diseases, reduce infant mortality and facilitate access to public healthcare.
Supporting investment to expand local pharmaceutical production
At present only a few countries in sub-Saharan Africa host pharmaceutical production companies.
The new health resilience investment initiative will also target financing to scale up local production of quality pharmaceuticals in sub-Saharan Africa. This will help to address the chronic shortage of essential medicines needed to combat cancer, HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis as well as improve medical care for newborn infants and mothers.
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