Freedom from Hunger Going the Last Mile with Oral Contraceptives in Rural Ghana with PSP-One Assistance
On October 21, international NGO Freedom from Hunger (FFH) trained the first batch of women entrepreneurs - or HealthKeepers - from its MicroBusiness for Health (MBH) initiative in Ghana to sell oral contraceptives (OCs) in their communities. MBH is a new social franchise being piloted by FFH in Ghana aimed at increasing access to essential health products in rural areas in a sustainable way. MBH, the franchisor, selects and trains rural women to be HealthKeepers, the franchisees, who educate their communities on health prevention and sell essential health products for a profit, such as oral rehydration salts (ORS), insecticide-treated nets, and water treatment tablets. Currently MBH has 170 HealthKeepers in 3 regions in Ghana, and the program plans to have 2,500 HealthKeepers throughout Ghana by 2012.
The Abt Associates-led PSP-One project has been providing technical assistance to MBH on several fronts, including the addition of OCs to the product basket. Previously, the only contraceptive being sold by the HealthKeepers was condoms. In preparation for the addition of OCs to the basket, PSP-One assessed potential legal and regulatory barriers, assessed the OC brands in the market, helped MBH select the most appropriate brand, facilitated their contact with the OC supplier, and provided technical assistance on the OC training curriculum for the HealthKeepers. For the launch, MBH trained 12 HealthKeepers and provided each with 12 OC cycles, which have all been sold. After close monitoring of these 12 HealthKeepers and with additional PSP-One feedback, MBH has finalized the OC training curriculum and began scaling up the training to the remaining HealthKeepers.
PSP-One is also providing technical assistance to MBH on financial sustainability, procurement and distribution, research, monitoring and evaluation, and commercial partnerships. By strengthening MBH, PSP-One is helping ensure that there is a sustainable, private sector supply and demand creation for contraceptives in rural Ghana, where contraceptive prevalence remains low and has stagnated recently.
