The European Investment Bank (EIB) and MedAccess announced today the signing of an innovative Guarantee Agreement to help improve access to critical health products in Africa. The agreement is one of the first operations under the Human Development Accelerator (HDX)*, a joint programme between the European Commission (EC), the EIB and the Gates Foundation, to accelerate investment opportunities that enable greater access to and affordability of health products in low- and middle-income countries. It fully aligns with the European Union’s Global Gateway Strategy.
EIB’s Guarantee Agreement, worth up to €52 million, will enable MedAccess to pursue more volume guarantees for the health sector in Africa. Volume guarantees help to make medical products more available and affordable by reducing demand-side risks through pricing and supply commitments for manufacturers. Increased product availability and affordability is essential for stronger health systems that can tackle the burden of disease and malnutrition.
Concretely, EIB’s innovative instrument will entitle MedAccess to receive a counter-guarantee from EIB covering up to 30% of losses that MedAccess may incur on volume guarantees eligible under the EIB’s guarantee. Volume guarantees eligible for cover under EIB’s guarantee will be supporting an increase in the availability and affordability of medicines, vaccines, diagnostics, medical devices or nutritional products that address unmet medical needs in Sub-Saharan Africa.
"This agreement will support the local manufacture of essential medicines from vaccines to nutritional products. It is a win-win international partnership in practice. Better access to affordable medicines, supporting African and European businesses alike, will make a real difference to families and children across the continent.” said EIB President Nadia Calviño.
“With this innovative instrument, EIB will be enabling MedAccess to grow its volume guarantees and increase the availability and affordability of medical goods for populations,” commented EIB Vice-President Karl Nehammer. He added: “This is one of the first operations under the Human Development Accelerator (HDX) program developed with the European Commission and the Gates Foundation to accelerate investments that enable greater access and affordability to health products, fully aligned with the Global Gateway strategy. It reflects the strong commitment of EIB Global, our development arm to support impactful projects that address the most pressing global challenge for Africa.”
“In a changing global health financing landscape, innovative finance partnerships such as this can help unlock access to essential health products at scale,” said MedAccess CEO Michael Anderson. “We are grateful to EIB and its partners for their strong support for MedAccess’ mission through this innovative Guarantee Agreement. It will enable us to provide more guarantees to manufacturers – both in Africa and beyond – who share our ambition to increase access to effective health products.”
Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jozef Síkela, also added: “Through the Global Gateway, the European Union is working with trusted partners like the EIB and MedAccess to strengthen health systems and ensure affordable access to essential medical products across Africa. The Human Development Accelerator (HDX) is an innovative guarantee mechanism under the EFSD+ that help us de-risk investments into this sector. It shows how sustainable investment can make a real difference for people’s lives, improving access to vaccines and medicines, and supporting local health resilience.”
Mark Suzman, CEO, Gates Foundation said: “Too many people still face barriers to accessing life-saving health interventions. This agreement shows how innovative finance can help close that gap—by making markets work better for people and creating lasting benefits for health systems across Africa.
As a Global Gateway initiative, the Accelerating Human Development (HDX) guarantee, a partnership between the Gates Foundation, European Investment Bank and European Commission facilitates investment opportunities that enable a better environment for health systems, as well as improved manufacturing capacities for health products and technologies. The guarantee contributes to boosting investors’ confidence in markets in low- and middle-income countries. It also aims to address the initial market barriers by mitigating demand related risks through innovative finance. The EIB and the EC has recently announced up to €95 million in blended financing also under HDX to help BioNTech advance its mRNA manufacturing site in Rwanda.
Source: EIB