UBS to help Rajasthan reduce maternal, infant mortality rates

The UBS Optimus Foundation today announced what it claimed was the "world's first" healthcare development bond, aimed at reducing the maternal and infant mortality rates in Rajasthan.
The Maternal and Newborn Healthcare Development Impact Bond or 'Utkrisht Bond'will support government efforts to reduce 10,000 maternal and newborn deaths in five years by improving access to and quality of care in up to 440 private healthcare facilities in the state, a release said here.
UBS will provide an initial USD 3.5 mn. The other partnersinclude USAID, Palladium, PSI, HLFPPT and MSD for Mothers, it said.
The implementation partners are co-investors, contributing more than 20 per cent of the capital required, the release said, adding that USAID and MSD for Mothers have committed a total of up to USD 8 mn in outcome funding, if a set of independently evaluated targets are met.

Mission Director of the National Health Mission (NHM) in Rajasthan Naveen Jain said, "We see innovative public-private partnerships, and the engagement of private capital, as an essential strategy in our toolkit towards improving health care services.
He said that he looked forward to working with the 'Utkrisht Bond' team and private health facilities.