By 2050, the world’s population is expected to rise to over 9 billion, with 2 billion people above the age of 60. Governments have agreed on a very ambitious set of Sustainable Development Goals to address the challenges inherent in population growth of this magnitude.

Recent estimates by the World Health Organization published in The Lancet state that reaching SDG 3 — which addresses healthy lives and well-being — would require new investments increasing over time from an initial $134 billion annually to $371 billion by 2030 in order to address the health challenges for 67 low- and middle-income countries.

Most of the innovative technologies and health care delivery approaches today are very expensive for emerging economies.

One such approach is innovative financing provided through risk pooling, social impact bonds or equity investments, and deployed via health insurance, loans, extended payment terms or leasing structures such as managed equipment services, or MES. In Africa, the Kenyan government is providing citizens with access to improved medical services including the latest medical technologies, training and skills development across 98 Ministry of Health hospitals through an MES with GE Healthcare for over $450 million. This convenes implementation partners, lenders, risk insurers, and advisory services in a new approach for risk and reward sharing and credit underwriting, for a big ticket health care modernization.

Another approach is based on innovative delivery systems. In Andhra Pradesh, India, the Health Management and Research Institute developed a program for pregnant women in remote areas to consult obstetricians and gynecologists in Hyderabad through an internet-based video system accompanied by community health workers. Initial results indicate that the system has helped raise the rate of the safe hospital or clinic deliveries by 50 percent.

Building on the experiences with public-private partnerships, we might yet be able to find the billions our world’s global health goals require.

Read the article by Arnaud Bernaert, Dessislava Dimitrova about health financing from Devex International Development