Sustainable Healthcare Foundation (SHF)
Micro-Franchise Drug Distribution
SHEF is providing access to health services to hundreds of thousands of rural Kenyans.
The Challenge
- The vast majority of sickness and death in Kenya is caused by a few major illnesses that are easily preventable and curable. Many Kenyans, however, lack access to basic health services, affordable drugs and medical supplies.
The Innovation
- SHF, an international NGO that has been working in Kenya, is quickly expanding its micro-franchise distribution network to provide essential drugs and basic health services to communities with little previous access to health services.
- SHF's model combines proven micro-enterprise and franchise principles to enable qualified community health workers and nurses to own and operate combination drug and consumer goods shops and medical clinics in underserved areas. The franchise system is operationally simple, yet imposes disciplined practices to ensure that high-quality drugs and appropriate services are available at affordable prices.
The Impact
- SHF aims to expand its existing network from under 100 to over 500 shops.
- Acumen Funds’s investment is also supporting the design of an information management system and the development of additional sources of generic drugs, innovations that are expected to dramatically increase revenue and the number of patient consultations per shop.
- In the last ten years, SHF has built what has become the largest franchised medical clinic network in Africa and has served over 2,000,000 visitors with essential drugs and basic health services; more than 500,000 lives have been impacted in 2008 alone.