MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Freedom from Hunger Microfinance and Health Protection (MAHP) Initiative Reaches Peru, Vietnam, Cambodia; Expands in India

US-based nonprofit Freedom from Hunger recently announced that, since the completion of its Microfinance and Health Protection (MAHP) initiative in December 2009, it has replicated the program in Peru, Vietnam, Cambodia and additional communities in India. MAHP was a USD 6 million, four-year pilot project that was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to add health protection services to microfinance offerings. Freedom from Hunger is working with the five pilot microfinance institutions (MFIs) of the original project to provide technical assistance to six additional MFIs: Village Welfare Society, KAS Foundation and Gram Utthan of India; VisionFund Cambodia; TYM Fund of Vietnam; and FINCA Peru. The project is funded by the Gates Foundation, Healthy World Foundation, International Labor Organization, Johnson and Johnson, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation and Skees Family Foundation.

Freedom from Hunger released an announcement that stated, “Evidence shows that moving MFIs away from a credit-only model and providing a range of practical products and services improves health behaviors and access to health services, and gives clients a greater sense of financial security in case illness does strike.”

By Julie Moksim, Research Associate

About Freedom from Hunger: Freedom from Hunger, first called “Meals for Millions”, is an international development nonprofit based in Davis in the US state of California. Freedom from Hunger works with local partners to alleviate hunger and poverty in sixteen countries around the world. Its microfinance programs service approximately two million families worldwide. As of 2009, Freedom from Hunger reported total assets of USD 6.07 million.

About The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provides grants to organizations within the United States and in more than 100 countries around the world with the aim of enhancing health care, reducing poverty and expanding educational opportunities and access to information technology. As of September 2009, the asset trust endowment totaled USD 34.2 billion.

Sources and Additional Resources:

Freedom from Hunger Press Release: “Freedom from Hunger’s Innovative Microfinance and Health Protection Continues to Help World’s Poor”, information provided by Freedom from Hunger to MicroCapital

Freedom from Hunger: Microfinance and Health Protection News (Special Update), January 2011, http://www.ffhtechnical.org/resources/microfinance-amp-health/microfinance-and-health-protection-news-special-update-january-201

MicroCapital.org Brief, September 2, 2010: Freedom from Hunger Publishes Results of Four-year, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-Funded Grant Program to Bring Combination of Microfinance and Healthcare Options to Rural Poor in Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, India and the Philippines, https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-freedom-from-hunger-publishes-results-of-four-year-bill-melinda-gates-foundation-funded-grant-program-to-bring-combination-of-microfinance-and-healthcare-options-to-rural-po/

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