The World Bank and financing global health

The BMJ's collection on "The World Bank and financing global health" is a series of articles providing an overview of the bank’s evolving role in international health.

Throughout his tenure, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim–the first medical doctor to hold the office–has adopted innovative financing measures for health. The papers in this series describe how the bank is now one of the largest and most influential health funders worldwide and follows on from The BMJ's 1999 series on the World Bank by discussing changes in global health governance since the millennium.

Will markets be master or servant to health at the World Bank?

Reconciling public health goals with The World Bank's market orientation remains a challenge, say Suerie Moon and Gorik Ooms.

World Bank’s financing, priorities, and lending structures for global health

Experts present the bank’s role in global health over the past 40 years.

Interview with Devi Sridhar, professor of global public health at the University of Edinburgh

Universal health coverage, health systems strengthening, and the World Bank

The World Bank is promoting better access to healthcare, say Marlee Tichenor and Devi Sridhar.

Marlee Tichenor, postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Edinburgh explains why the bank has embraced universal healthcare.

World Bank and the Global Financing Facility

Genevie Fernandes and Devi Sridhar describe the bank’s new investment model for advancing reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health and nutrition.

Genevie Fernandes a PhD student at the University of Edinburgh discusses a new model of combing grants and loans in the Global Financing Facility.

Earmarking for global health: benefits and perils of the World Bank’s trust fund model

Janelle Winters and Devi Sridhar review different types of trust funds and how they fit within the bank’s lending mechanism.

Janelle Winters a PhD student at the University of Edinburgh explains what the bank's trust funds are, and why it can be hard to tell what they're funding.

Health as a “global public good”: creating a market for pandemic risk

Felix Stein and Devi Sridhar examine how the World Bank is trying to improve preparedness for global pandemics.

Felix Stein a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Edinburgh describes the bank's move to create a market for pandemic insurance.

Why medical practitioners should be interested in the World Bank

Darrin Baines and Zaheer-Ud-Din Babar describe how the evolution of the World Bank raises new questions about its approach to health.

Infographic: The World Bank timeline