Private finance and the threat to global health

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Investment is a defining word of the moment. Last year’s inaugural ‘investment round’ for WHO1 followed calls from its Director-General to see ‘health not as a cost, but an investment’.2 The Lancet Commission on Investing in Health was met with acclaim at its offering up of health as a ‘compelling investment opportunity’.3 The recent collapse of funding for global health causes and institutions has lent added urgency to the search for new sources of investment. However laudable the intentions of maximising money for global health and its key institutions may be, the approach adopted has so far largely skirted key questions such as from whom, on what terms and who ultimately benefits? It leaves countries and institutions vulnerable to commercial interests and extractive practices that run counter to the mission of global health. This is the subject of our new report: Private Financial Actors and Financialisation in Global Health.4