The European Commission has announced three new Global Gateway investments in Africa and Latin America, including €63.5 million in EU guarantees for private health and nutrition investment in Sub-Saharan Africa, a €15 million European Investment Bank loan to a Colombian vaccine maker, and €60 million in funding to support primary health care in Ethiopia.
The package was unveiled during the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Week and is linked to the EU’s Global Health Resilience Initiative, adopted in May 2026, the Commission announced in a release on Thursday.
An agreement has been signed with Cardano Development to launch the First Mover Health Investors Fund, supported by an EU guarantee of €63.5 million.
The guarantee is expected to mobilise about €150 million for “growth-stage” health and nutrition companies in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The fund is set to invest in areas including nutrition, local manufacturing of medicines, medical devices and consumables, health care delivery and health innovation.
The EU guarantee is being provided through the European Fund for Sustainable Development Plus (EFSD+) — an EU tool that uses guarantees to encourage investment.
Colombia loan and Ethiopia health funding
The European Investment Bank will provide a €15 million venture loan to Colombian biotechnology company VaxThera as the first tranche of financing of up to €35 million, backed by the Commission.
The funding will support construction and related work for the second phase of VaxThera’s commercial-scale manufacturing facility, helping expand vaccine and biological medicines production in Colombia.
Up to €1.5 million in technical assistance will support the development of three vaccine candidates for infectious diseases in VaxThera’s research and development pipeline.
In Ethiopia, the Commission announced a €60 million investment package developed with the country to improve the quality and accessibility of primary health care.
The funding will support construction, rehabilitation and equipment for health infrastructure, as well as work linked to water and sanitation, nutrition and gender-based violence in underserved communities.
The EU will also support the expansion of digitally enabled health insurance services in remote areas, plus biomedical training, research and innovation.
From 2021 to 2025, the EU mobilised more than €6 billion in global health funding.
More than €2 billion has also been mobilised through Global Gateway for regional manufacturing of vaccines, medicines and health technologies in Africa.
