In this interview, Thomas Pellerin, IFC (International Finance Corporation) Senior Investment Officer, talks about health as a priority sector to development and poverty reduction.
Health is a priority sector for IFC because it is a basic human need. Health impacts the ability of people to study, work, care for their families, and ultimately contribute to the economy. Access to quality health care promotes development and poverty reduction.
Access to vision correction is a critical need and many people living in developing countries are lacking this because eyeglasses are not affordable or readily available. Governments in developing countries, where demand for healthcare is growing rapidly, are increasingly relying on the private sector to help build capacity and scale up affordable health services for their citizens.
“At IFC, we value Essilor’s commitment to creating inclusive business models in emerging markets”
IFC invests in companies that bring best practices to healthcare and innovate to adapt technologies and processes to control costs and serve emerging markets.
We value Essilor’s commitment to creating inclusive business models that deliver development impact for local populations and promote sustainable practices in business operations. Our experience in emerging markets, dating back to 1956, testifies that the private sector has a key role to play in bringing goods, services and job opportunities to individuals at the ‘base of the pyramid’ in emerging economies.”
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution working with private enterprises to help eliminate extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity. A significant investor in healthcare in emerging markets, IFC has a portfolio of health projects that have impacted 27 million patients in 2014, as well as a dedicated “Inclusive Business Practice Group”, bringing together the tools, resources, networks, and knowledge to grow inclusive business worldwide. IFC has provided more than $22 billion in financing to improve lives in developing countries and tackle the most urgent challenges of development.