Ghana to benefit from $10m African health financing

Ghana together with Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania will benefit from a $10 million public-private financing from the Medical Credit Fund (MCF) to boost the countries’ health sectors.

The MCF financing was sourced from the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the Calvert Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Soros Economic Development Fund, the Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation and Dutch private investors, as well as grant funding from the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

Officials indicated that the innovative approach could transform Africa’s health care delivery.

The MCF will enable small and mid-sized health care providers – clinics, laboratories, doctors and midwives – in Africa to receive the capital they need to improve their quality, the OPIC said December 21, 2012.

If successful in its initial implementation in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania, OPIC says the MCF will expand into additional countries in sub-Saharan Africa, on the strength of evidence that the private sector is already transforming the continent’s health care systems.

“This new financing will empower smaller providers to scale up much-needed services, improve clinical standards and thereby efficiency,” said OPIC President and CEO Elizabeth Littlefield.

Since the start of the programme in late 2010, the MCF has disbursed more than $1.4 million in small loans in Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana and Nigeria.

The MCF is an initiative of PharmAccess, a Dutch not-for-profit organization, dedicated to improving health care in Africa through innovative approaches. The PharmAccess Group mobilizes public and private resources for the benefit of doctors and patients through insurance (Health Insurance Fund), loans to doctors (Medical Credit Fund), clinical standards (SafeCare), private investments (Investment Fund for Health in Africa) and operational research (Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development).

By Ekow Quandzie