Innovative humanitarian health financing for refugees

More than 68 million persons globally are currently forcibly displaced, of which over 23 million are refugees. Conflicts are increasing, and existing ones are becoming more protracted; a refugee remains a refugee for over 10 years (World Bank, Forcibly displaced: Toward a development approach supporting refugees, the internally displaced, and their hosts. World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017). The current modalities used to fund refugee emergencies are not sustainable, and will become even less so as health needs increase and health services become more expensive. Given the current number of complex conflicts and the magnitude of displacement, new sources of funding and innovative financing instruments for refugee care are needed. This chapter discusses current challenges in humanitarian financing, argues for better integration of refugee healthcare services, and assesses various innovative health financing tools for these services. If done thoughtfully, integrating refugees into a host country’s health system should improve health services and outcomes for both nationals and refugees. Addressing the increasing health needs of refugees requires a sophisticated financing toolkit that can be adapted to different refugee contexts, including pre-emergency and multi-year planning, health insurance, bonds, concessional loans, and pay for performance. These modalities need to be employed according to specific refugee contexts and consider potential risks. In conclusion, innovation in humanitarian healthcare will require traditional and non-traditional partners to work together to pilot different financial schemes. Donors and investors need to be prepared to experiment and accept failure of some models in certain contexts. Ultimately, different innovative financing models will be able to provide more sustainable and effective health services to refugees and their host populations in the near future.