SIMON ASHBY | Professor of Financial Services, Vlerick Business School, Ghent University
DIMITRIOS KOLOKAS | Doctoral Fellow, Vlerick Business School, Ghent University
DAVID VEREDAS | Professor of Financial Markets, Vlerick Business School, Ghent University

The unprecedented public health crisis caused by COVID-19 overstretched the structures and mechanisms of the
European Union (E.U.), in particular those that deal with emergencies. To be ready for the next health emergency, we propose the creation of the Emergency Health Financing Facility. 

In its broader version, this facility integrates some of the existing E.U. emergency structures and adds a new layer for the most extreme emergencies that does not increase the burden on public finances. This new layer essentially consists of securitizing health emergency risks in the form of fixed income securities that are sold to institutional investors. The facility follows the growth of market-based risk financing facilities across global and regional initiatives, led by the World Bank.