A groundbreaking virtual convening hosted by the ONE Campaign and The Insurance Development Forum (IDF) introduced the HealthBridge, an initiative designed to convert fragmented portions of remittances from emergency family support into well-structured prepaid, pooled health financing mechanism.  

As official development assistance declines and public health budgets tighten across Africa, leaders from across government, insurance, health and finance are advancing a bold idea: transforming diaspora remittances into predictable, long-term health protection for African families. 

That idea took centre stage at the high-level virtual convening that brought together regulators, insurers, FinTech companies, global health experts and diaspora representatives.  

“Africa is at a critical moment,” said Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli, President and CEO of ONE. “Over the past 18 months, there has been growing focus on health sovereignty, alongside a clear recognition that progress depends on solidarity. For families, one serious illness can push a household into poverty. Redirecting even a small portion of remittances into structured, prepaid health protection could make a real difference, helping families access care earlier and more reliably, while strengthening health systems over time.” 

Ekhosuehi Iyahen, Secretary General of the IDF, said: “Diaspora remittances already function as informal insurance for many families, but they arrive after the shock. HealthBridge is about closing a major protection gap by shifting from emergency transfers to predictable, pooled health protection anchored in regulated local insurance markets with the goal of scale, not pilots.” 

In 2023 alone, remittances to Africa exceeded USD 90 billion, surpassing total official development assistance and underscoring the scale of opportunity the HealthBridge seeks to harness. 

The HealthBridge is structured around three mutually reinforcing pillars designed to move the model from concept to scale.  

• A Technical Product Lab will co-design and test affordable, regulation-compliant remittance-linked health insurance products grounded in user needs and local market realities.  

• A Policy and Advocacy Hub will address cross-border regulatory barriers, align financial, insurance and health policies, and support regulators in creating safe pathways for innovation. 

• A Partnership Marketplace will align insurers, fintech platforms, governments, donors and diaspora organisations around shared infrastructure and sustainable business models to reduce costs and enable scale. 

Pedro Pinheiro, Inclusive Insurance Coordinator at the IDF, said: “If we get this right, success means diaspora contributors shifting from ad-hoc transfers to structured health protection, families accessing timely and reliable coverage through regulated insurance products and regulators enabling safe, compliant cross-border flows that build trust in the model. HealthBridge is designed to create a reference pilot that can be replicated across corridors.” 

Speakers acknowledged that previous remittance-linked insurance initiatives have struggled to scale due to fragmented partnerships, regulatory complexity and low trust and stressed the importance of designing HealthBridge collaboratively from the outset. 

Dr. William Nii Ayitey Menson, Director of Health Financing at ONE, in emphasizing the potentially transformative role of HealthBridge said: “We are not starting from zero. We’re building on both the lessons and the failures of past efforts to deliver something new, a platform that turns one-time crisis responses into continuous, reliable support. This is how we move from fragility to resilience, family by family.” 

As Africa confronts a new era of constrained aid and rising health risk, HealthBridge represents a decisive shift: From fragmented generosity to structured protection, from crisis response to resilience and from isolated pilots to systems built for scale. The ONE Campaign’s Executive Director for Africa, Serah Makka called on stakeholders across sectors, “to join a growing coalition of the willing, committed to piloting, scaling, and sustaining HealthBridge as a pathway to resilient, community-rooted health systems and help turn one of Africa’s strongest financial flows into lasting health security for millions.” 

About ONE 

The ONE Campaign is a global advocacy organization working to end extreme poverty and preventable disease, with a strong record in advancing health financing and equitable development. ONE has helped secure over $37.5 billion for global health and played a key role in the establishment of major initiatives such as PEPFAR and the HIPC debt relief framework. As a neutral, citizen-focused convener, ONE brings policy expertise and trusted partnerships to support high-level dialogue on sustainable, country-led health financing.