Forum on the Financialisation and Private Investment in Healthcare
The Centre for Health Policy, in partnership with United Nations University International Institute for Global Health and the Institute for Economic Justice held a workshop on the financialisation of healthcare on the 10th November 2025 at the Wits School of Public Health. International and local experts discussed how private capital and financial institutions are shaping health systems and health care delivery globally across upper, middle and low-income countries. The forum provided insights on the way financialisation has impact on both patients and healthcare providers, including Ministries of Health who are faced with managing the tension between private investors and shareholders expecting profits from the health sector and populations expecting equitable, effective and efficient health systems. Discussants from Oxfam International, Brazil and India provided an international landscape on how financialisation is being driven and by whom. South African speakers focussed on the South African context, examining the role of financialisation in health systems reform and the power and impact of financial actors, ideas and narratives on health policy and outcomes, while also generating ideas on how public-private partnerships can optimally contribute to national health system goals.