Merck for Mothers Talks Innovative Financing at the World Economic Forum: Unlocking the Potential of Development Impact Bonds
Achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 will require new tools, financing mechanisms and partnerships to fill the estimated $3 trillion investment gap. Development Impact Bonds (DIBs) are an emerging area of innovative financing to achieve social and development outcomes by bringing together private investors, implementers, governments and donors to pave the way for a more-results oriented and sustainable approach to supporting health and economic prosperity, especially in growing markets. The risk of failure is shifted to investors, allowing governments and other donors to spend resources more effectively.
Merck for Mothers joins partners/principals of the Utkrisht Impact Bond, the largest and most ambitious DIB to date and the first targeting maternal and newborn health, at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland to discuss the potential of innovative financing to improve maternal and newborn health. Merck for Mothers is an outcome funder and will re-pay investors for the initial capital they provide to implementers once results are achieved.
Fast Facts:
- The Utkrisht Impact Bond is the world’s first health development impact bond and the largest and most ambitious impact bond to date.
- It is an example of how highly efficient use of capital can save lives. Interventions will reach up to 600,000 pregnant women with improved care during delivery and could lead to up to 10,000 lives being saved over a five year period.
- It will improve the quality of maternal care in Rajasthan’s private health facilities by supporting up to 440 Small Healthcare Organizations (SHCOs) to meet new government quality standards and adhere to them over the long term.
- The Utkrisht impact bond is a partnership between UBS Optimus Foundation, Palladium, Population Services International, HLFPPT, USAID, and Merck for Mothers.
- It will complement existing Government initiatives, with the Government of Rajasthan acting in an oversight role, with a view to becoming the outcome payer in a second phase of the impact bond.
