15 December 2025, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Islamic Centre for Development of Trade (ICDT), a subsidiary organ of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), today announced the launch of a new Coalition on Islamic Financing Towards Global Health. The announcement was made at the High-Level Roundtable on Promoting Investment in Global Health through Islamic Financing, convened in Riyadh with senior leaders from across the Islamic finance, development and global health sectors.
The Coalition aims to strengthen collaboration among governments, multilateral institutions, financial actors, philanthropies and technical partners to expand the use of Islamic financing instruments in support of primary health care (PHC), universal health coverage (UHC) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Membership in the Coalition is voluntary, and interested institutions will be invited to join as the initiative develops.
The Roundtable brought together ministers, senior officials and institutional leaders from OIC and African Member States, along with partners from multilateral development banks, philanthropic organizations and the private sector. Participants explored concrete opportunities to mobilize ethical capital through tools such as Zakat, Waqf, Sadaqa, Khums, Sukuk and Takaful, and discussed their application to health system strengthening, service delivery and pro-poor health interventions.
WHO and ICDT emphasized that Islamic finance – guided by principles of equity, solidarity, justice and shared responsibility – offers a powerful but underutilized avenue for expanding sustainable financing for health. Recognizing the rapid growth of Islamic finance and the significant untapped potential of social-finance flows such as Zakat and Waqf, partners underscored the opportunity to channel new and predictable resources towards public health priorities.
The Coalition will support countries and institutions to:
- identify and scale successful models of Islamic-finance engagement for health;
- facilitate access to technical expertise, analytical tools and policy guidance;
- promote cross-regional learning and collaboration among Member States;
- encourage partnerships between public, private and philanthropic actors; and
- mobilize innovative Islamic financing for PHC and health system strengthening.
WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Dr Hanan Balkhy noted that Islamic finance “represents one of the most promising pathways to mobilize ethical and sustainable resources at scale, especially for countries facing persistent health-financing gaps”.
Dr Latifa El Bouabdellaoui, Director-General of ICDT, highlighted the importance of collaboration across the OIC region to “translate values-aligned financing into tangible improvements in health outcomes for communities most in need”.
The Coalition will begin preparatory consultations in early 2026. Governments, institutions and stakeholders interested in contributing to the Coalition’s development will receive further information from WHO and ICDT in the coming months.
