The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank ( AIIB ) launched in December 2024 its inaugural health strategy, Tomorrow’s Infrastructure for Health, marking its first comprehensive strategy in social infrastructure and the first health-focused strategy by a multilateral development bank since the Covid-19 pandemic.

The strategy draws on AIIB’s experience financing health projects – 22 projects to date with US$4.87 billion in approved financing – and outlines the direction in which the AIIB can develop a niche and create value.

It provides a roadmap to address health challenges across members and, the banks says, “underscores commitment to social development and inclusion by enabling it to contribute to improved health outcomes in Asia and beyond”.

The global pandemic revealed fragilities and inequalities in health systems,” the bank adds, “emphasizing the need for greater investments in health system resilience and global health security”.

The AIIB’s health strategy provides a framework for financing solutions that strengthen health systems and deliver sustainable outcomes, by linking health, infrastructure and economic development, and emphasizing the role of infrastructure in underpinning healthy living.

The bank will implement the strategy gradually, it notes, by leveraging partnerships with multilateral banks, health organizations and private sector actors. And a robust monitoring framework will track progress and ensure alignment with strategic priorities, it states, “solidifying the AIIB’s role in advancing health infrastructure for sustainable development”.