EBRD’s Health-Focused Interventions

Background

During 2020 the EvD conducted a multi-project evaluation of the EBRD’s health-focused interventions. These comprise activities in the healthcare equipment and services sector, but exclude activities in the pharmaceutical industry. EvD analysed the Bank’s activities since 2008, including direct financing in health care infrastructure and services, and business advisory services. This included, inter alia, investments made under the Bank’s ‘Updated Approach to the Health Sector’ and the ‘Turkey Hospital Facilities Management Public Private Partnerships Framework’.

Main findings

The Bank lacks a comprehensive strategy/policy level statement on its objectives in health. Most of the Bank’s financing and activities were outside the scope of the Updated Approach.

This translated into an incoherent set of results frameworks tracking outcomes from health projects. There is no clear system for measuring health-related impacts, and as currently defined health is not a subcomponent of any of the Transition Qualities. This means the Bank cannot meaningfully report its contribution to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 (‘Good Health and Well-being’).

Affordability of healthcare was central to Board debates in this sector, but the term is not operationalised or defined in any systematic way, for example to drive project selection and assessment.

There were clear successes from the Bank’s participation in PPPs, which blended investment with TC and policy dialogue.