Statement by Dr Hanan Balkhy, WHO Regional Director preceding the High-Level Roundtable on Promoting Investment in Global Health through Islamic Financing

14 December 2025

Ladies and gentlemen, members of the media,

Thank you for joining us ahead of the High-Level Islamic Financing Roundtable in Riyadh. Today's briefing offers the context needed to report on a rapidly emerging opportunity to expand fiscal space for global health.

Health systems worldwide face mounting strain: tighter budgets, rising demand, fragmented services, and a 40 per cent decline in external aid. In the Eastern Mediterranean, these pressures are intensified by protracted emergencies, a growing non-communicable disease (NCD) burden, large refugee populations, and high out-of-pocket spending.

Across our Region and the wider Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) community, health needs are increasing faster than traditional financing can keep pace. This makes innovative, sustainable financing models essential to complement domestic budgets and offset dwindling external support.

Islamic finance offers one of the most promising opportunities to help close this gap. Its wide range of instruments-Zakat, Waqf, Sadaqa, Khums, Sukuk, and Takaful-are grounded in solidarity, fairness, and shared responsibility. While they have long supported social welfare, their potential for global health remains underused.

We already see examples of Islamic social finance supporting health services, subsidizing treatment, and strengthening community health. Zakat funds in Sudan subsidize national health insurance for low-income households; Kuwait's Zakat House finances health projects in Yemen and Lebanon; and Qatar Charity's programmes have reached more than 32 countries. In Saudi Arabia, a recent study identified 4,381 Waqf endowments supporting SDG 3 (health), representing 12 per cent of SDG-aligned Waqf spending. Of these, 44 per cent for specialized care, 31 per cent for primary care, and 26 per cent for prevention and public health.

Multilateral development banks are also recognizing Islamic finance as a tool for closing health gaps. The 2.5 billion USD Lives and Livelihoods Fund blends grants with concessional Islamic financing to expand primary health care and infectious disease control in low-income Member States.

Building on these achievements, we aim to strengthen and scale the link between Islamic finance and health-sector needs by: identifying effective models; helping governments structure investable health projects; mobilizing ethical and predictable capital for primary health care (PHC), universal health coverage (UHC), and disease eradication; and promoting cross-regional learning.

Tomorrow's Roundtable will bring together ministers of finance and health, leaders from Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), philanthropies, private-sector investors, and experts from across our Region and Africa. It will introduce the vision for a new Coalition on Islamic Financing for Global Health, co-led by WHO and the Islamic Centre for Development of Trade (ICDT)-an effort to turn Islamic financing into a practical mechanism that countries can readily use to close health-financing gaps.

Digital payments, fintech systems, blockchain-based transparency platforms, and AI-supported analytics are creating new ways to ensure that every Riyal or Dollar is tracked, compliant, and linked to measurable health results.

Today's briefing will outline this landscape, the challenges we face, and why Islamic finance is rapidly gaining attention as a strategic solution for global health.