Microfinance and women's health: What is currently known and what still needs to be examined?

Background. Microfinance includes providing financial services, such as loans, to micro-entrepreneurs who otherwise lack access to banking services. Microfinance programs are recognized as a promising poverty alleviation mechanism for women, yet relatively little is known about the short and long term health impact of women's participation in such programs.

Methods. A systematic literature review process was used to identify and summarize peer-reviewed articles published in the PUBMED database between 1997-2012 that addressed microfinance and women's health. The resulting abstracts were reviewed and full-text for the 27 relevant articles were read and summarized.

Results. Microfinance programs are often offered in conjunction with health education and community action/mobilization. Existing published literature addressing the impact of microfinance programs on women's health focuses on a range of topics including gender equity, HIV, intimate partner violence, and malaria, yet fails to examine the impact of such programing on chronic diseases. Evidence suggests that microfinance combined with health education leads to better health knowledge, practice, and outcomes. A majority of the studies were located in African countries including South Africa, Ghana and Ethiopia, and South Asian countries including India and Bangladesh.

Conclusions. Existing research illustrates the positive impact of microfinance on women's health outcomes, but has largely focused on infectious diseases, been mainly conducted in Africa, and overall, failed to adequately examine long-term health behavior. Future longitudinal research is needed to explore the health impact of multi-pronged microfinance programs.