How Transform Health Fund (THF) Improves Health Care in Africa
Author: Ebube Nwamah | ebu.nwamah@gmail.com
Between 2012 and 2015, the United Nations sought a development framework to succeed the Millennium development goals. In 2015, countries around the globe adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): 17 ambitious goals, and 169 targets all aimed at ensuring peace and prosperity for all people and planets. (Sustainable development goals)
These goals span from healthcare, planet protection, economic development, and industrialization. In 2015, member countries and the United Nations expected the fulfillment of these goals by 2030 but now, achieving these goals by 2030 appears bleak, especially in Africa.
The SDG employs a collaborative framework, assuming that the efforts of one nation could yield positive results for the nation and other member nations. Over the years, efforts have been made to achieve sustainable development across various sectors in different countries with a greater focus on African countries.
Africa accounts for 16% of the global population, housing diverse cultures, beliefs, and practices⸺ We as Africans take pride in this diversity. The pandemic of 2020 exposed the lapses that exist in the healthcare sector of Africa. Despite having a 23% disease burden, Africa’s healthcare system was ill-prepared for COVID-19 and remains under-prepared for managing current diseases and future outbreaks. (Development Finance Corporation)
Towards achieving SDG 3: “Good Health and Well-being”, the Transform Health Fund (THF) was announced on December 14, 2022 (Grand Challeges Canada). The THF is an investment vehicle that utilizes funds, from private and public capital, managed by AfricInvest and the Health Finance Coalition. The funds are directed at bridging the gaps in healthcare in Sub-Saharan Africa. (THF Investment information)
THF partners with bodies and organizations such as Merck & Co., Royal Phillis, etc (Fsd Africa). The fund targets African countries like Nigeria, Cameroon, Rwanda, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali, Ghana, South Africa, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, Mozambique, Guinea, and Senegal.
The THF provides capital for investment into innovative, solution-driven enterprises providing healthcare products and services to at-risk communities. These investments will drive innovations, improve product supply and care delivery. They aim to develop a resilient and sustainable healthcare system in African communities thus improving healthcare access and affordability.
Projected Impacts of The Transform Health Fund (THF) on Africa’s Healthcare
Improved access to quality healthcare:
The THF drives investments into innovative and high-impact health-centric enterprises. These enterprises develop scalable technologies and services capable of meeting the healthcare needs of Africa’s large population.
Telemedicine platforms, AI diagnostic tools, biotechnology, and personalized medicine are all products of such enterprises revamping African countries’ healthcare systems.
These enterprises also develop strategies to improve the supply chain, up-skill healthcare workers, and ensure sustainable infrastructure development. All of these efforts create quality healthcare accessible to all members of different communities.
Affordable healthcare for Africans:
By finding and investing in innovative healthcare enterprises, the THF bridges the gap in healthcare financing in Africa thus reducing the financial burden of healthcare on patients across Sub-Saharan Africa.
The capital provided to these enterprises from the THF subsidizes the cost of producing advanced technologies and healthcare services which are then made available to the patients at a much lower price. Patients get quality healthcare without having to pay through their noses.
A Step Closer to Achieving SDG 3:
SDG 3: “Good health and well-being” aims at ensuring that quality healthcare is accessible to every single member of the population irrespective of social or financial status. Achieving this goal in Africa has been faced with numerous challenges ranging from unfavorable policies to limited funding for healthcare.
The THF proffers a solution to the funding aspect of these challenges thus providing standard facilities, products, and services necessary for quality healthcare. The subsidy on the overall cost of healthcare, offered by the THF, makes these products and services affordable to a large number of the population.
The provision of quality healthcare and reduction in cost of healthcare in Africa, spearheaded by the THF brings us a step closer to achieving SDG 3. Thanks to the THF, superb healthcare and wellbeing would be available to all.
The Transform Health Fund would greatly revolutionize healthcare in Africa and would be a bold step in the right direction towards building a continent where Afticans have access to quality and affordable healthcare services and products.