Senior Associate, Private Finance, Health Systems Strengthening

Overview

The Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI) is a global health organization committed to our mission of saving lives and reducing the burden of disease in low‑and middle‑income countries. We work at the invitation of governments to support them and the private sector to create and sustain high‑quality health systems.

CHAI was founded in 2002 in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic with the goal of dramatically reducing the price of life‑saving drugs and increasing access to these medicines in the countries with the highest burden of the disease. Over the following two decades, CHAI has expanded its focus. Today, along with HIV, we work in conjunction with our partners to prevent and treat infectious diseases such as COVID‑19, malaria, tuberculosis, and hepatitis.

Our work has also expanded into cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and other non‑communicable diseases, and we work to accelerate the rollout of lifesaving vaccines, reduce maternal and child mortality, combat chronic malnutrition, and increase access to assistive technology. We are investing in horizontal approaches to strengthen health systems through programs in human resources for health, digital health, and health financing. With each new and innovative program, our strategy is grounded in maximizing sustainable impact at scale, ensuring that governments lead the solutions, that programs are designed to scale nationally, and learnings are shared globally.

At CHAI, our people are our greatest asset, and none of this work would be possible without their talent, time, dedication and passion for our mission and values. We are a highly diverse team of enthusiastic individuals across 40 countries with a broad range of skillsets and life experiences. CHAI is deeply grounded in the countries we work in, with majority of our staff based in program countries.

Learn more about our exciting work: http://(Use the "Apply for this Job" box below)..org

CHAI is an Equal Opportunity Employer, and is committed to providing an environment of fairness, and mutual respect where all applicants have access to equal employment opportunities. CHAI values diversity and inclusion, and recognizes that our mission is best advanced by the leadership and contributions of people with diverse experience, backgrounds, and culture.

CHAI’s Health Systems Strengthening group is building out a Private Finance capability focused on catalysing private investment into health systems in sub‑Saharan Africa. The team works between private health providers, financiers and governments to address structural bottlenecks that prevent capital from flowing to high‑impact health services at scale.

The private sector already plays a critical role in health systems in sub‑Saharan Africa, from retail pharmacies and primary care, to diagnostics and specialised medical treatments, supply chains, and essential non‑clinical service providers such as oxygen, logistics, and energy. As donor funding declines, the role of private providers is expected to become even more important to complement public healthcare delivery and expand access to affordable, high‑quality care.

Despite their critical role in health systems, many high‑impact health businesses face persistent financing constraints that limit their scale. Across the region, health SMEs sit in a ‘missing middle’, too large for microfinance but too small or too risky for most development finance institutions. Where local currency debt is available, it is typically short‑tenor and high‑cost, while hard currency lending comes with often unsustainably high FX risk.

These dynamics result in high risk premiums and under‑investment, even where health impact is clear.

As an initial use case, the Private Finance team has supported governments across African countries to structure and execute solar electrification programs for health facilities, working with lenders, developers, and public counterparts to develop investable project pipelines and financing approaches. This has created a strong foundation in deal execution, public‑private contracting, and mobilising finance against measurable health impact.

Building on this…