SECTOR OVERVIEW

Diseases associated with poverty– HIV, malaria, tuberculosis, measles, pneumonia, and diarrheal diseases, cause approximately 14 million deaths per year. – WHO

Many of these deaths are preventable but BOP customers lack access to preventative medicines and often seek treatment at later and more costly stages. In other cases, preventable health afflictions such as loss of vision prevent individuals from being able to work or contribute to family life.

Social enterprises help meet needs created by an absent or insufficient public infrastructure and an inaccessible private sector by improving the quality and affordability of healthcare services and products available to BOP customers. Many Social enterprises operate clinics, pharmacies and hospitals while others offer health related products that many people need to function on a daily basis (i.e.. reading glasses, wheelchairs, etc.).

As in other sectors, health Social enterprises must often employ creative education strategies to change habits and conceptions related to health problems, and devise financing and staffing methods that keep their products and services accessible. For example, when highly skilled workers are necessary to deliver a health service, Social enterprises employ a paraskilling model, training unskilled workers in the specific needed tasks. To cover fixed costs while maintaining affordable prices many healthcare Social Enterprises use a model known as cross-subsidization, serving both BOP and better-off customers by offering differentiated services (private rooms, more luxury) at different prices.

Social Enterprises by sub-sector

All »