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Mary, a member of one of the microfinance groups who received health lessons as part of MCS’ pilot project in India, became a widow when her husband committed suicide after learning that he was HIV-positive. Soon after her husband’s death, Mary began to exhibit HIV symptoms and was convinced by alert group members to get tested for the virus. When Mary learned that she, too, was HIV-positive, she also contemplated suicide, but thanks to the health lessons on HIV and AIDS, group members supported her and decided to donate 1 percent of their income to Mary so that she could purchase nutritious food and medicine. Prior to receiving the lessons, many of these same group members would have shunned Mary and other individuals whom they suspected of being HIV-positive. Today, Mary has a thriving business and is able to continue supporting her children on her own.

The health integration project expands the capacity of microfinance programs by training loan officers to provide health education to microfinance clients. Integrating learning opportunities on basic health issues with microfinance have resulted in better health practices among microfinance families. However, many microfinance institutions and networks are unable to integrate their programs with health education due to limited opportunities for resources for professional training of their loan officers. Your generous gift today will bring a health training program within reach for a loan officer, who can make a difference for hundreds of microfinance clients.