Scaling and Financing of Social Innovation
"Healthy Entrepreneurs envisions a world where everyone in Sub-Saharan Africa has access to basic health products and services."
More than 600 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa do not have access to basic health care and affordable health products. Getting health information and care can be expensive, due to high costs of transportation to the nearest health centres, the expenses for consultations and care (which are generally not covered by insurance), and the widespread presence of falsified or substandard medication.
A low availability of health centres and high travel costs to the nearest ones, lead to substantial costs: for every $100 spent on care, 45% is spent on transportation. Available consultations and care can be challenging to afford , especially since expenses are generally not covered by insurance. There is a high dependency of the local black market for medicines, leading to the use of cheaper but counterfeit medicines (30-60% of all available medication).
Healthy Entrepreneurs (‘HE’) engages rural community health workers in a sustainable micro-business that allows them to improve access to health information and products in their communities while generating income for themselves and their families.
