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The Microcredit Summit Campaign, Freedom from Hunger, and the Center for Health Market Innovations released a new report in January 2013 titled Integrated Health and Microfinance: Harnessing the Strengths of Two Sectors to Improve Health and Alleviate Poverty in the Andes -- State of the Field of Integrated Health and Microfinance in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru, 2012.
This report synthesizes the primary learnings and conclusions shared within a community of practice for integrated health and microfinance in the Andean region.
Pioneering Efforts in the Andes
The microfinance sector in the Andes provides services to more than 7 million families, who represent 50% of the population in those countries. With data from 24 microfinance institutions in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru, this report presents pioneering efforts to explore the integration of microfinance and health and calls for further studies and funding for integrated programs.
The Microcredit Summit Campaign, Freedom from Hunger, and the Indian Institute of Public Health, Gandhinagar released a new report in June 2012 titled Integrated Health and Microfinance in India: Harnessing the Strengths of Two Sectors to Improve Health and Alleviate Poverty. The report demonstrates how microfinance can be further leveraged to provide a powerful tool to address one of India's persistent barriers to the economic advancement of the poor: ill health caused by lack of access to health services.
This update of an earlier edition again focuses on the power of integrating microfinance services with health education. It highlights efforts by the Microcredit Summit Campaign and UNFPA using a methodology developed by Freedom from Hunger. Included is analysis from innovative work in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Of special note are the results from a pilot project in India that shows how local capacity can effectively be built to accelerate the large-scale global adoption of integration.
The document provides evidence of the impact of microfinance projects. It also serves as a call to action for development agencies, governments, microfinance institutions and donors to invest in this strategy that holds the promise changing social norms and of making many of the MDG targets achievable.The final section offers eight concrete recommendations for action to realize the potential of the “combined services” approach of integrating microfinance services with health education. All eight actions rely on the development agencies, governments, micro-finance institutions and donors to promote integrated health education and microfinance as a means to meeting the MDGs.
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Microfinance Institutions Reaching 3.8 Million Clients in India with Health Protection Services
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