IFC Health Newsletter | February 2020

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Dear friends and colleagues,

I wanted to share some of our newest thought leadership pieces, including an interview with Don Berwick, health quality expert and former Administrator of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, along with information about TechEmerge East Africa. I hope you find this interesting and we look forward to any comments.

Regards,

Elena Sterlin
Head of Health and Education, IFC

Expert Voices: An interview with Don Berwick

Don Berwick, renowned health quality expert and former Administrator of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, spoke about how governments can use the power-of-the-purse to prod health care organizations to make improvements in the quality of care. Read the interview here.

Thought Leadership

What makes more sense for health care companies seeking to expand hospital operations – buy existing hospitals or build new ones? IFC’s Alexandre Oliveira looks at the pros and cons in his ‘Buy or Build’ piece, which appeared on Medium.com.

In emerging markets, more sick people die from receiving poor quality health care than from going without care, according to a Lancet study. The World Bank Group is working to change this by getting countries to focus more on quality of health care, explain IFC regional manager for Latin America and the Caribbean, Gabriel Goldschmidt, and Bank director for health, nutrition and population, Muhammad Ali Pate, in a World Economic Forum blog.

IFC-Economist Intelligence Unit Briefing Papers: Based on discussions at our March 2019 Global Private Health Conference, we developed a series looking at the challenges and opportunities for private investment in biopharma and health technology in emerging markets.

News

The deadline for health tech innovators to apply to the TechEmerge East Africa program is February 25, 2020. Watch the video to learn more.

New Investments

Ghana | New Crystal

IFC’s investment in New Crystal, a private health care group in Ghana with six clinics, a medical training school, a pharmacy, and a diagnostics service company, will help this quality health care services provider to improve existing infrastructure, construct new clinical space, purchase necessary equipment, hire and train medical staff, and implement higher-quality standards. New Crystal focuses on providing care to the urban poor. This is IFC’s first investment in the health sector in Ghana.

Middle East and North Africa | Humania

IFC is supporting Bait Al Batterjee Medical Co in establishing Humania North Africa, a health care platform focused on developing a network of high-quality multispecialty hospitals and health care assets initially in Egypt and Morocco. IFC’s investment will be used to establish the platform’s first four assets, which have a total of 583 inpatient beds and 240 outpatient clinics.