Leading global development and finance experts from the public and private sectors joined forces today in an initiative that is expected to provide for efficient and rapid delivery of health supplies to countries in need. Pledge Guarantee for Health (PGH) and pan-African banking group Ecobank announced a five-year, US $40 million partnership that will leverage private sector capital to speed up delivery and access to life-saving health supplies. This will include such items as contraceptives, bed nets, and medicines where they are most needed.
The partnership comes at a propitious time, as health authorities in several West African countries face serious challenges in terms of direly needed help in fighting back the worst epidemic of Ebola since the illness first appeared in the mid-1970s. Ecobank has already made direct monetary and material contributions to the authorities in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The PGH Ecobank partnership is expected to help further.
The traditional sequence and timing of donor funding Disbursements can lead to delays in the procurement and delivery of critical health supplies, sometimes by up to 14 months. By providing low-cost, short-term credit to beneficiaries, PGH and its partners are able to shorten the commitment-to-disbursement timeline by months, enabling beneficiary countries to access higher quality and more effective methods of health supplies at no additional cost.
Through this partnership, Ecobank and PGH will work with ministries of finance and health to structure access to financing on the basis of their pending donor funds. By providing accelerated access to donor funds, countries are able improve supply forecasting, order in bulk to receive better pricing, and, ultimately, deliver higher quality service to the populations they serve. Ecobank will act as a key financing partner with its network in 36 African countries, leveraging the capabilities of its partners and over 20,000 employees to help realise the mission of accelerating access to essential health commodities.
Through a five-year, US$100 million guarantee backed by the United States and Swedish governments, PGH unlocks private sector financing to maximise the impact of each dollar of donor funding. This ultimately improves health access and outcomes for millions of people. In collaboration with commercial banks like Ecobank, this guarantee enables PGH to create a line of credit, which, over five years, is expected to mobilise a tremendous lending capacity for global health programmes.
With a mission of contributing to the economic and financial development of Africa, Ecobank is a Togo-based leading pan-African financial institution that operates in 36 countries across the continent. The PGH-Ecobank partnership is particularly unique, as it is only made possible through risk sharing among Development partners, global financiers, and the communities in which they operate. This creative cross-sector collaboration will boost the impact of critical donor funding, accelerate progress towards health Millennium Development Goals, and improve the lives of mothers, children, and families globally.
In addition to health service delivery in the near-term, Ecobankand PGH joining forces in this manner is a significant step toward increasing sustainable access to finance in developing countries.
It is anticipated that after the five-year life of the PGH guarantee, commercial lenders will have amassed enough evidence to continue this model of lending without requiring a guarantee, thus building the foundation for a truly sustainable credit solution.
Albert Essien, Group CEO of Ecobank, said: "By partnering with PGH, Ecobank is helping to accelerate access to life-saving medicines, vaccines, and bed nets through affordable access to financing. As the pan-African bank with the largest footprint in Africa, we know that this will make a tremendous impact in the countries and communities where we operate.
"Mr. Aron Betru, Managing Director of PGH, said: "For PGH, the Ecobank partnership represents a key milestone in moving from a concept to a highly effective tool. This credit facility will provide real support to Ministries of Health and Ministries of Finance in accelerating access to essential health commodities for their communities. It is our utmost mission to support country leadership with innovative resources to bring results forward, faster."
About Pledge Guarantee for Health
Pledge Guarantee for Health is an innovative financing partnership designed to increase the availability and predictability of funding from international donors for health commodities. Through a 5-year partial guarantee from the governments of the United States and Sweden, PGH is able to leverage $100 million in credit from commercial banking partners which, in turn, extend short term credit to traditional donor aid recipients. Recipients are empowered to use donor committed funding in advance of disbursement, resulting in increased buying power, greater value, accelerated procurement and delivery, and, ultimately, more lives saved. For more information, visit www.pledgeguarantee.org.
About Ecobank
Incorporated in Lome, Togo, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) is the parent company of the leading independent pan-African banking group, Ecobank. It currently has a presence in 36 African countries, namely: Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo (Brazzaville), Congo (Democratic Republic), Côte d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Group employs 19,200 people from 40 different countries in 1,250 branches and offices. Ecobank is a full-service bank providing wholesale, retail, investment and transaction banking services and products to governments, financial institutions, multinationals, international organizations, medium, small and micro businesses and individuals. Additional information may be found at www.ecobank.com.
MEDIA CONTACTS
Pledge Guarantee for Health: Paige Robson, probson@pledgeguarantee.org, +1-202-627-6950
Ecobank: Mireille Bokpe, mbokpe@ecobank.com, +228 22 21030
