“Improving access to healthcare products and advice by encouraging entrepreneurial models of health delivery to reach a community-driven solution”
The Need
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From a comprehensive survey of the informal settlement of Vingunguti, we found that:
- Malaria was identified by the community as by far the most common disease for both adults and children; however, in only 49% of households everyone sleeps under a net (overall, 67% of respondents use a net). - Only 18% of respondents wash their hands with soap every time; 34% rarely or never use soap to do so. - 30% use groundwater as their main source of water, which is likely to contribute to persistent diarrhoea issues (on average, 1.13 people in a household experience diarrhoea in any given month); this could be alleviated with a regular use of water purification tablets. - Only 45% of respondents were visited by a Community Health Worker and less than half of the visits pertained to health matters. |
- Many prevalent health issue were perpetuated by low use of healthcare and sanitation products.
- Community members have a high awareness of health-related products (90-95% awareness for most), but this low usage can be attributed mostly to poor access to products.
- Across all of the products in the survey, the most commonly given reason for not buying was high cost.
Furthermore, Community Health Workers – the primary source of health education and advice – are limited in their capacity to provide help:
- Low wages force them to look for additional sources of income to support themselves.
- This limits their time allocated to health work.
- However, their work is clearly beneficial, with 100% of survey respondents wishing they could spend more time in the community.
- Community members have a high awareness of health-related products (90-95% awareness for most), but this low usage can be attributed mostly to poor access to products.
- Across all of the products in the survey, the most commonly given reason for not buying was high cost.
Furthermore, Community Health Workers – the primary source of health education and advice – are limited in their capacity to provide help:
- Low wages force them to look for additional sources of income to support themselves.
- This limits their time allocated to health work.
- However, their work is clearly beneficial, with 100% of survey respondents wishing they could spend more time in the community.
Our Work
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The project aims to improve access to healthcare products and provide health education and advice in local communities by encouraging entrepreneurial models of health delivery. Social entrepreneurship is at the heart of our work and we believe that it is the key to reaching a community-driven solution and achieving a truly sustainable impact.
This year, the project continues to focus on the development of Afya Yetu, a not-for-profit social enterprise based in Vingunguti, Dar es Salaam that aims to increase use of healthcare products in the community by facilitating access to them and to provide more health education and advice by enabling Community Health Workers to spend more time in their role. This is achieved through employing them as sales agents, who reach out to the community members with a portfolio of affordable products. The current range includes soap, sanitary pads, male and female condoms, toothpaste, toothbrushes, waterguard and vitamin supplements. |
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Sales agents earn a commission based on their sales, which provides additional income and allows them to allocate more time to their health work, as they sell these products whilst undertaking their current work visiting households. The products are bought at wholesale prices and a mark-up is added to cover commission and overheads. Consequently, retail prices of the products are lower than those currently available in the community, which improves their financial accessibility.
The Afya Yetu project is currently in the first implementation stage: a year-long business trial aimed at validating the concept and providing valuable feedback on how the model could be improved. The trial has now entered sixth month and has enabled us to collect a wealth of both quantitative data on sales and financials and qualitative feedback from a wide range of stakeholders. These will be analysed thoroughly as we continue assessing the model.
The Afya Yetu project is currently in the first implementation stage: a year-long business trial aimed at validating the concept and providing valuable feedback on how the model could be improved. The trial has now entered sixth month and has enabled us to collect a wealth of both quantitative data on sales and financials and qualitative feedback from a wide range of stakeholders. These will be analysed thoroughly as we continue assessing the model.
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Our ImpactIn the first five months of the Afya Yetu trial, we sold over 750 products and provided additional income to 9 Community Health Workers. Through employing 9 sales agents we have reached out to dozens of households and hundreds of community members, bringing essential health and sanitation products to their doorstep. The benefit of this is two-fold: community members can buy products at a more affordable price and they also receive education on the importance of the products and on how to use them.
For the full version of the Health Project's Impact Report, please see our Publications Page. |
Our Vision
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The main goal for the upcoming year is to optimise the Afya Yetu model and consolidate it into a fully sustainable business that benefits both the community and Community Health Workers. We will be also exploring ways of scaling the model up and expanding into other similar areas. Alongside this, we will promote general health awareness and education in the community and build the Afya Yetu brand through developing relationships based on trust and mutual understanding. Lastly, we will be looking to originate new ideas for creative solutions to other pressing health issues within the community.
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