As global health leaders gathered in Berlin for the 2026 World Health Summit, the Kyle House Group convened senior leaders from across government, global health, philanthropy, development finance, and the private sector to discuss one of the field’s most pressing challenges: how to sustainably finance essential health programs as traditional sources of development assistance decline.
Hosted on the sidelines of the Summit, this private roundtable brought together KHG Founding Partner Porter DeLaney and Dr. Seth Berkley, KHG Senior Advisor and former CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, alongside leaders working to develop new financing mechanisms and partnerships to sustain progress in global health.
Rethinking the Future of Global Health Financing
The discussion came at a critical moment for global health. With traditional sources of official development assistance under pressure, governments and global health organizations face growing challenges in sustaining essential programs and expanding access to lifesaving innovations.
There is an estimated annual financing gap of approximately $371 billion for the health-related Sustainable Development Goals, plus an estimated $31 billion needed each year for pandemic preparedness.
Addressing these needs will require more than traditional grant funding alone. Participants explored how public resources, philanthropic capital, development finance, private investment, and domestic financing can work together to support essential health services and mobilize additional resources.
Building Partnerships That Deliver Results
A central theme of the conversation was the need to move promising financing approaches from concept to implementation.
Potential solutions discussed included co-financing partnerships that align government and philanthropic resources, blended-finance structures that help attract private investment, and stronger domestic resource mobilization to support country ownership and long-term sustainability. Development finance institutions also have a role to play in supporting investment in areas such as diagnostics, health infrastructure, local manufacturing, and supply chains.
Dr. Berkley’s experience leading Gavi offered a valuable perspective on how global health partnerships can combine international support with country co-financing and transition models. These approaches offer lessons for sustaining programs while helping countries assume greater responsibility for their own health needs and priorities.
The goal is not to replace what we know works, like grants for example, which remain essential for many public health needs, but to use available resources more strategically and identify complementary sources of capital where they can make a meaningful difference.
A Path Forward
The roundtable brought together industry leaders representing a broad range of global health priorities and financing approaches, including experts from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, The World Bank Group, MedAccess, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Gavi, The Global Fund, Medicines for Malaria Venture, PhRMA, Novo Nordisk Foundation, Sabin Vaccine Institute, U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, Global Health Technologies Coalition, Global Health Investment Corporation, PATH, Medtronic, Wellcome Trust, and U.S. Pharmacopeia. Their participation and experiences were instrumental to the conversation and reflected the cross-sector collaboration needed to address global health financing challenges.
The Kyle House Group is grateful to Dr. Berkley and all participants for contributing their expertise to this important discussion. As global health financing continues to evolve, building stronger partnerships and identifying practical, sustainable funding models will be essential to preserving progress, expanding access to lifesaving innovations, and strengthening health systems around the world.
