The Africa Health Markets for Equity (AHME) partnership is co-funded by the UK Department for International Development and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Both funders plan to commit $30 million over five years (total of $60 million) to the project. The partnership will improve health outcomes through the provision of quality private sector health care targeted at the poor in Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana. This will be achieved by increasing the scale and scope of private provider networks and demand-side financing in all three countries.

The AHME partnership, led by Marie Stopes International (MSI), comprises six best in class organizations – MSI, Population Services International (PSI), Society for Family Health (SFH), Grameen Foundation (GF), PharmAccess International (PharmAccess) and the International Financing Corporation/World Bank Health in Africa Initiative (IFC/HIA). Collectively, these organizations possess proven competencies in social franchising, social marketing, quality improvement and evaluation through certification, provider credit, demand-side financing, policy, regulation and information, and information and communication technologies for health.

The AHME partnership will demonstrate the feasibility and value of integrating supply and demand-side interventions at scale in Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana. In each country, MSI, PSI, and SFH will increase both the scale of their private provider networks and the scope of network services to address maternal and child health, malaria, diarrheal diseases, acute respiratory infections, nutritional deficiencies, and TB/HIV. PharmAccess will support private network providers to improve their quality assurance systems and externally validate the quality of services using the SafeCare Initiative stepwise certification process. Providers participating in the SafeCare program will gain access to loans through PharmAccess’ Medical Credit Fund (MCF). Access to capital will allow providers to make the necessary investment to further improve the quality (according to the standards set by SafeCare) and range of services they offer.
Supply-side interventions will be complemented by demand-side financing mechanisms such as insurance, medical savings accounts, and vouchers in order to reduce financial barriers for clients to access priority services. The program will generate large increases in coverage for malaria, acute respiratory infections, nutrition, diarrhea, HIV and TB, alongside increases in the scale of maternal health and family planning. Over five years, the program expects to include 2,734 provider outlets and avert 2.9 million DALYs, at cost-effectiveness ratio of $46 per DALY.

Investment

• $60 Million US Dollars

Funded By

• UK Department for International Development
• Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Partners

• MSI, Population Services International (PSI)
• Society for Family Health (SFH)
• Grameen Foundation (GF)
• PharmAccess International (PharmAccess)
• International Financing Corporation / World Bank Health in Africa Initiative (IFC/HIA)

Beneficial Regions

• Nigeria
• Kenya
• Ghana