How Health, Digital and Financial Inclusion Will Lift Millions Out of the Cycle of Poverty in Emerging Markets

Bringing Together 21st Century Solutions to Make a Sustainable Impact

Thursday, 10 September 2020
10:00 am – 11:00 am (EDT) / 7:00 am – 8:00 am (PDT)

The Covid-19 pandemic is a global challenge that represents a risk to the health and economic security of people around the world. We see firsthand how a pandemic has impacted global capital markets. Now, more than ever, there is an urgent need for health and financial solutions to be deployed alongside each other to allow for countries to more efficiently manage their healthcare systems.

Despite billions of dollars spent over the past 15 years, millions of people at the base of the socio-economic pyramid in emerging markets continue to struggle to meet basic daily needs due to lack access to primary healthcare, and exclusion from digital and financial systems. A lack of sustainable approaches to investment has led to persistent gaps in health and financial infrastructure, consigning individuals, and communities to a cycle of inadequate health care and poverty. Vulnerable populations in turn stifle economic growth, driving developing nations ever further into debt and dependency.

Meaningful improvements in healthcare delivery are required to enable emerging markets to achieve economic growth. Sustainable healthcare delivery services require solutions that unleash the economic potential of societies. A necessary starting point is building greater digital and financial inclusion, to help people at the base of the socio-economic pyramid to connect and find secure ways for receiving, storing, and managing money. Growing digital and financial inclusion on the front end is key to building sustainable healthcare and economic resilience in emerging markets. Central to this is helping small and medium-sized enterprises, particularly women-led entities, adopt new technologies to digitize and grow. Taken together, digital, and financial inclusion and enabling access to healthcare services will drive greater socio-economic prosperity and self-reliance for emerging markets.

This Virtual Roundtable will bring together key leaders from the healthcare and financial sector to discuss the need for building resilient healthcare systems while also expanding financial inclusion opportunities for communities, with a particular focus on women owned small businesses.