Microfinance and Health Pairing to be Model for Global Expansion

A woman participating in Freedom from Hunger's integrated microfinance programs once said, “Health is wealth. One serious illness in the family and our savings will be washed out!” Her point illustrates why Freedom from Hunger's Microfinance and Health Protection (MAHP) initiative is so powerful.

And because Johnson & Johnson and the Ashmore Foundation agree, they are funding a collaboration between Freedom from Hunger and the Microcredit Summit Campaign to develop a distribution model for MAHP in India that demonstrates to the world what can be accomplished when women have access to health services and microfinance.

Offering women health services at microfinance meetings is not just an efficient pairing; it's good for clients and the microfinance institutions (MFIs) that serve them. Women who receive the services simultaneously stay healthier and keep their families healthier, making their repayment of loans more reliable and building loyalty to the MFI.

In MAHP, women can open health savings accounts, take out health loans, purchase basic healthcare goods, access health micro-insurance and improve their access to local clinics. Last year, one woman in India explained the value of these services this way:

“Had I not received this health loan, I would have lost both my sons and my life would have been in a state of loneliness and misery. I am obliged to spread this message of my immense benefit out of this loan, to all the people whom I know.”

The collaboration between Freedom from Hunger and the Microcredit Summit began with a Johnson & Johnson-funded feasibility study last year. The study revealed that numerous MFIs in India were interested in adding health services to their ongoing microfinance programs. Phase two of the project will identify and develop innovations in health services and various models for expanding outreach. The primary health goal of the initiative is to offer women opportunities to improve maternal and child health, family planning, non-communicable diseases, and to fight the increasing threat of HIV/AIDS.

Learn more about MAHP.