Live Mint: Opinion | Blended finance for meeting the SDGs
Mahua Acharya, former assistant director general of the Global Green Growth Institute

“Blended finance is in fashion in the development finance world. It refers to the merging of public and private funds to maximize development impact and is most often called upon in reference to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that countries valiantly agreed to in 2015. … For blended finance to change development finance, it has to scale. For this to happen, five fundamental issues that are inherent to the way public and private capital is managed, need to be addressed. … The first is to do with the way money is managed. … The second relates to how money is monitored. … The third is related to the pricing of risk. … The fourth relates to how failure is handled. … And finally, the biggest hurdle to public and private monies coming together lies in an ideological difference between governments and businesses. … All this notwithstanding, the larger goal of blending is a noble one and it is time that a common understanding were achieved among the blenders of capital so that both sides know what to expect” (10/4).

Devex: Opinion: Global financial markets could be game changer for health
Ilona Kickbusch, director of the Global Health Centre at the Graduate Institute Geneva and member of the WHO Independent High-Level Commission on NCDs, and Christian Franz, managing director of CPC Analytics

“If we want to achieve [universal health coverage (UHC)] under the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, we need to strike a balance between global health priorities and commercial and economic interests. How? By proactively engaging global financial players. … Global financial markets have a key role to play in improving the prospects for global health … Not only are new financing partnerships key to achieving UHC, investing in global health also offers significant return opportunities. … Adding the health component to investment criteria and proactively factoring in the commercial determinants of health and its associated costs to societies will significantly reduce investment risks while promoting global health. … Investment in [non-communicable disease (NCD)] prevention for a company’s own workforce also directly affects profitability and productivity. … [G]lobal health should be an agenda item at all high-level political and financial fora, especially in light of the rising health care costs, the growing trend toward an economic market for health, and the ‘financialization’ of global health…” (10/3).