MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microcredit Summit Campaign, Freedom from Hunger Partner on Effort to Bring Health Services to 3.7m, Program to be Piloted in India

The Microcredit Summit Campaign, a US-based advocacy organization, has partnered with Freedom from Hunger, a US-based development NGO, to launch a project intended to provide health insurance to approximately 3.7 million people worldwide. While the cost of the program has not been released, an unspecified portion of the project is funded through a grant from Johnson & Johnson, a US-based healthcare products company. The entire program aims to reach 700,000 microfinance clients plus their family members with both health education and health insurance over a five-year period. According to a study funded by the US-based Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, microfinance institutions can provide health insurance for as little as USD 1.59 per client per year.

The two organizations plan to pilot the program in India before growing to a global scale.

As of 2012, Freedom from Hunger has 26 partner microfinance organizations serving 2 million families.

About Microcredit Summit Campaign
Microcredit Summit Campaign is a project that was launched in 1997 by RESULTS Educational Fund (REF), a nonprofit advocacy group that is based in Washington, DC. The Campaign’s mission is to help 100 million people rise above the international poverty line of USD 1.25 a day by 2015. The campaign also aims to bring financial and business services to 175 million people, especially women, by 2015.

About Freedom from Hunger
Freedom from Hunger is based in Davis in the US state of California. Formerly called “Meals for Millions,” it is an international development NGO that operates in 19 countries with the aim of alleviating hunger and poverty. Its microfinance programs service approximately 2 million families through 26 partner microfinance institutions. At the end of 2011, Freedom from Hunger was working with 150 partners and reaching approximately 3.9 million women plus their families.

By Charlotte Newman, Research Associate

Sources and Additional Resources:

Information sent from the Microcredit Summit Campaign to MicroCapital, January 23, 2012, “Microcredit Summit Campaign and Freedom from Hunger Form Alliance to Benefit 3.7 Million of the World’s Poor Through Combining Microfinance and Health”

MicroCapital.org story, November 18, 2011, “MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microcredit Summit Campaign Report: 137 Million People Received Microloans in 2010,” https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-microcredit-summit-campaign-report-137-million-people-received-microloans-in-2010/

MicroCapital.org story, March 28, 2011, “MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Freedom from Hunger Staff Co-author ‘Integrating microfinance and health strategies: examining the evidence to inform policy and practice,’” https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-freedom-from-hunger-staff-co-author-integrating-microfinance-and-health-strategies-examining-the-evidence-to-inform-policy-and-practice/

MicroCapital Universe Profile: Microcredit Summit Campaign https://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=Microcredit+Summit+Campaign

MicroCapital Universe Profile: Freedom from Hunger https://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=freedom+from+hunger

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