Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #118434

Carlos Carrazana, MBA, MPH, International Health, Abt Associates Inc., 4800 Montgomery Lane, Suite 600, Bethesda, MD 20814, 301.347.5363, carlos_carrazana@abtassoc.com and Meaghan Smith, MIA, Global Microenterprises Initiatives, 4800 Montgomery Lane, Suite 800, Bethesda, MD 20814.

Title: Access to Credit as a key to financial sustainability for reproductive health services

Problem Statement: Donors and governments recognize the importance of strengthening the private sector to achieve reproductive health and family planning goals. A major constraint to private sector development is limited access to financing. Without financing, the private sector is often dominated by small clinics of varying quality focusing on curative rather than preventative care.

Intervention: The paper analyzes two approaches to increasing access to financing: 1) working with local financial institutions to promote health sector lending; and, 2) improving credit-readiness of private providers. Credit interventions are highlighted in two case studies – linkages between private midwives and microcredit in Uganda, and the provision of local bank credit to commercial providers in Nicaragua.

Results: Findings suggest the credit-based approach leads to improved financial viability of private health sector providers; and expansion of the range of services to include RH/FP services.

Learning Objective: To familiarize participants with research demonstrating the potential of making credit available to private providers to enhance the sustainability of reproductive health services.

Learning Objectives:

• To familiarize participants with research demonstrating the potential of making credit available to private providers to enhance the sustainability of reproductive health services.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation