Under the Local Health System Sustainability (LHSS) Project, Banyan Global increases financing opportunities for health innovators. As countries strive to achieve universal health coverage, total market approaches – where the public and private sectors work in tandem to address population health needs – can fill gaps in service and coverage and provide financial protection. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) launched the Inclusive Health Access Prize (IHAP) competition in May 2019 to recognize private organizations with locally led innovations that are designed to improve accountability, affordability, accessibility, and reliability of health care for poor and vulnerable populations.

The activity provided demand-driven technical assistance to the five IHAP winners to strengthen their capacity to sustainably scale up their innovations and serve more people. A critical requirement to sustainably scale innovation is access to finance, which has been found to be the primary barrier faced by innovators.

Banyan Global designed and conducted an analysis of the local financing landscapes in Senegal, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria in support of the IHAP winners. The analysis considered both debt and equity investors and covered both traditional financial institutions and non-traditional sources of capital such as venture funding, crowdfunding, and accelerator-based funding, among other. IHAP winners were provided with a customized report of potential sources of finance to ensure their continued growth.

Banyan Global is a subcontractor to Abt Associates on the $209 million, five-year USAID -funded LHSS project under the Integrated Health Systems award that works globally in up to 52 countries to strengthen their health systems as a means to achieve universal health coverage and improve population health and well-being. With an eye toward empowering countries to transition away from donor support, the project is strengthening the capacity of local organizations to lead implementation. Banyan Global is responsible for providing technical assistance to increase financial protection, population coverage, and service coverage of quality essential services. Banyan Global also leads work to increase private investment in the health sector and to promote gender integration and social inclusion.