Financing Health Through Diplomacy: Unlocking Debt-for-Health Swaps

Financing Health Through Diplomacy: Unlocking Debt-for-Health Swaps” is a workshop session organized by JLI Center for Global Health Diplomacy. The session addresses growing financial pressures on health systems in low- and middle-income countries, driven by rising debt, declining aid, and constrained public resources. It aims to strengthen understanding of innovative and blended financing mechanisms, with a focus on debt-for-health swaps as a practical tool to unlock fiscal space for health investments. Through presentations and discussion, participants will explore the working debt swap model through case studies, highlighting lessons learned, enabling factors, and implementation challenges. The session also emphasizes the role of health diplomacy in bringing together governments and partners to negotiate sustainable solutions. Designed as an interactive workshop, it encourages peer exchange and aims to generate actionable insights and better knowledge on the ways innovative financing in coordination with health diplomacy can be used to advance national health strategies.