Execution is starting under the new Health Impact Investment Platform on the first country health investment plans turning original commitment into operational reality. The landmark partnership between Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), the World Health Organization (WHO) and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is addressing the critical need for coordinated efforts to strengthen primary healthcare (PHC) in vulnerable and underserved communities to build resilience against pandemic threats like mpox and the climate crisis.

At the high-level roundtable meeting in New York on the margins of the UN Summit of the Future in New York on 23 September, new funding was signed, and it was agreed that the partners will sit down and start identifying needs and planning health care improvements in 15 countries- Burundi; Central African Republic; Comoros; Djibouti; Egypt; Ethiopia; Gambia; Guinea Bissau; Jordan; Maldives; Morocco; Senegal; South Sudan; Tunisia; and Zambia 

The European Investment Bank (EIB) and WHO signed an initial contribution of €10 million to kick start the implementation of these investment plans. The Islamic Development Bank and the African Development Bank are finalising their contributions for the same amount that will be signed in the near future.

The platform is a key part of an effort to unlock $1.5 billion in concessional loans and grants to expand and improve primary health-care services in low- and middle-income countries, especially in the most vulnerable communities. The investment plans now being developed in these 15 countries, as a phase 1, are expected to make up a significant proportion of that financing effort.

The platform aims to work in close partnership with governments to develop national health strategies focused on primary health care and on prioritizing investment opportunities that meet national health needs. 

It has also been estimated that preparing for future pandemics will require investment in the order of $31.1 billion annually. Approximately one third of that total would have to come from international financing.