Access to quality healthcare in developing economies continues to lag behind the rest of the world. And while the influx of private capital into these regions is having positive impact on access, current investment levels are projected to fall well short of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for health. Unlocking additional investment will require a more complete understanding of the complex web of actors, their motivations, and limitations of their current investment models in developing economies.
Approaches employed by investors varied principally around their capital provider’swillingness to finance at lower-than-market rates when weighed against social impact. With regards to frameworks and target setting for impact assessment at the level of both individual investments and at the portfolio level, we observed a great deal of variation, with no two organizations adopting matching criteria and only modest alignment around categories of assessment.
In order to realize the full potential of the capital deployed and to attract the incremental capital inflows necessary to meet the UNC SDG goals, we submit two principal recommendations. First, to improve mutual understanding of relative positioning of funders along a health venture’s development path, we recommend the adoption of more precise language when describing investment approaches. This brief describes five archetypes to allow for clearer communication and improved coordination among investors. Second, we propose the development of a health investment Coalition to enhance deal sharing and funding transitions as well as collective research to improve the efficiency and efficacy of capital placement in impactful health ventures in emerging markets.