NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Friday, May 22, 2015

As the Ebola virus in West Africa wanes, multilateral and bilateral donors along with NGOs and country governments are making a concerted push to strengthen health systems across the developing world to protect against future health crises.

But at what point does health systems strengthening become a good business investment for the private sector?

The U.K.-based pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline PLC announced today that it will invest more than $9 million over the course of three years to support the training of more than 9,000 health workers in Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria.

The initiative, in partnership with nongovernmental organizations Amref Health Africa, the One Million Community Health Workers Campaign and Save the Children, is designed to train health care workers to manage noncommunicable diseases, treat mothers, children, and newborns, and build an evidence base that makes the case for both public and private investments in the health sector.

So why does such an investment make business sense?

By investing in health infrastructure in developing economies, GSK can help to create a market and a demand for its products, said Ramil Burden, vice president for Africa and developing countries at the organization.