Transform Health Fund secures US$50 million from investors for healthcare in Africa>

AFRICA – The Health Finance Coalition (HFC) and AfricInvest have pledged commitments of US$50 million for the pan-African Transform Health Fund.

The commitment will finance the scaling of proven, innovative models that improve access, affordability, resilience, and quality of healthcare in Africa. 

The announcement was made as part of the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington, D.C. hosted by President Biden.

“Three decades of expertise and insight allows AfricInvest to leverage a wide range of support throughout many regions of the continent,” said Ziad Oueslati, Founding Partner, AfricInvest.

“We believe our team is well-positioned to continue financing African health-sector companies through innovative financing models such as the Transform Health Fund.”

The Transform Health Fund is an innovative blended-finance fund focused on locally led health supply cchains care delivery, and digital solutions in Africa.

The fund is a collaborative effort bringing together commercial, government, and donor investments under the leadership of AfricInvest, a leading pan-African investment platform active across private equity, venture capital and private debt, and the Health Finance Coalition, a group of leading global health funders hosted by Malaria No More, to finance enterprises that improve health system resilience and pandemic preparedness across the continent.

“The Transform Health Fund will demonstrate that health enterprises serving the most vulnerable communities are investible,” said Martin Edlund, CEO, Malaria No More and Executive Director of the Health Finance Coalition.

“To solve the health financing gap in Africa, we need to crowd in substantial private investment – this fund demonstrates a new model for achieving that while prioritizing transformative health impact.”

The Transform Health Fund will provide debt and mezzanine financing to scale high-impact health enterprises serving vulnerable communities while offering risk-adjusted returns.

As a result, the Fund is expected to help bolster healthcare systems in Africa, which face a massive financing gap – a challenge made more difficult by COVID-19 – by working to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

“Scaling proven solutions in Africa’s healthcare requires adequate investment and innovative financing,” said Noorin Mawani, Co-lead of the Transform Health Fund.

“The Transform Health Fund seeks to apportion risk and return while delivering high impact-focused funding to healthcare businesses that need it most.”

Ray Chambers, WHO Ambassador for Global Strategy and Health Financing said that the Transform Health Fund demonstrates what’s possible when you combine a ‘capital stack’ approach to financing with a genuine commitment to transformational impact. “But to achieve the world’s ambitious global health goals, we need to urgently scale such efforts – especially as the world recovers from COVID-19 and faces serious macroeconomic headwinds,” said Chambers.

U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Royal Philips, Merck & Co., Inc., known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, FSD Africa Investments, Netri Foundation, Anesvad Foundation, Grand Challenges Canada (with funding from Global Affairs Canada), Chemonics International, and MCJ Amelior Foundation have all announced their commitments, subject to final due diligence before closing. IFC is in the advanced stage of approving its investment in the fund.

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