2025 Concordia Annual Summit

Building Markets Through Stronger Health Systems

  • Health Opportunities & Challenges
Martin Edlund, Jeffrey Graham, Florizelle Liser

Session
Partners

Session Summary

Important
Quotations

“Stronger health systems don’t just save lives, they drive economic growth, stability, and investment. Endemic diseases like malaria remain a major drag on productivity, particularly in Africa, straining economies and deterring investors.”
Martin Edlund
“By leveraging our diplomatic platforms overseas, we are asking: how do we create market opportunities in a way that helps shift the burden, so that countries can develop more sustainable approaches to their own health responses?”
Jeffrey Graham
“We need a healthy African workforce in order to build strong, growing African economies, and that, in turn, is essential for the global economy.”
Florizelle Liser

Key
Takeaways

  • Economic Impact: Every dollar invested in malaria control returns $5.80 in GDP growth; malaria imposes a $12 billion annual economic burden on African economies; countries with robust malaria control attract 16% more foreign direct investment; and 72% of companies report operational impacts from malaria, with 39% describing it as severe.

 

  • Infrastructure Opportunity: Existing malaria programs test 273 million fevers annually, operating “the world’s best fever finding and fighting network” in rural Africa; the approach is shifting toward integrated, disease-agnostic health worker systems; and the technology pipeline is “bursting with transformative new technologies,” many developed by American companies.

 

  • Demographic Imperative: By 2050, one in four people globally will be African and 60% of the world’s youth will live in Africa; a healthy African workforce is essential for both African and global economic growth; and 80% of affected companies are small and medium enterprises.

 

  • Policy Integration: Health discussions must include finance ministers, since “health conversations just with ministers of health will only go so far”; malaria investment should be treated “as an economic tool rather than just a health tool”; and future agreements should give African governments greater control over their own health systems.

Action
Items

  • For Policymakers: Integrate health into economic planning by treating malaria investment as essential infrastructure like roads and ports; expand cross-ministerial engagement by including finance, trade, and other ministers in health discussions; leverage economic data such as the 16% FDI increase in policy discussions; and develop compact models that create time-bound mutual commitment agreements.

 

  • For Private Sector: Factor health security into investment decisions by applying COVID-19 lessons on the importance of health systems; explore manufacturing opportunities through local production on the African continent; develop integrated delivery systems for multi-disease logistics; and invest in data infrastructure to strengthen surveillance and early warning systems.

 

  • For Development Partners: Build disease-agnostic platforms addressing multiple diseases simultaneously; strengthen commercial diplomacy by using diplomatic platforms for sustainable market solutions; support technology transfer for innovative health technologies; and focus on SME impact by designing programs that address their vulnerabilities.

 

  • For African Governments: Prioritize health in national budgets, moving beyond reliance on donor aid; create enabling investment environments by promoting health security as a competitive advantage; leverage regional integration through frameworks like AfCFTA for regional health resilience; and engage key stakeholders beyond health ministries in strategic planning.

 

  • Immediate Steps: Download and distribute the report to support funding requests and policy proposals; engage in compact negotiations using economic health arguments in ongoing US-Africa discussions; track the Accra Reset Initiative to follow African-led partnership reforms; and begin planning for Africa’s demographic transition over the next 25 years.

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