World Bank East Africa program drove patients into poverty

On this edition of Your Call’s Media Roundtable, we discuss a yearlong investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists about how the World Bank funded for-profit hospitals in East Africa, which destabilized the finances of families and thrusted them into a life of destitution.

Former patients, their family members, and friends told the ICIJ about their experiences with hospitals run by the Avenue Group, a Kenyan health care company backed with International Finance Corporation money. The interviews revealed the pain and confusion families felt as they had to choose between critical medical care and their financial wellbeing.

Guest:

Ben Dooley, reporter for ICIJ based in Washington DC

Resources:

ICIJ: The World Bank set out to transform health care for the poor in Africa. It drove patients deeper into poverty.

ICIJ: ‘Where would I find this amount of money?’: Private hospital patients in Kenya grapple with crushing debt