The Center for Health Market Innovations (CHMI) is a global network of partners that seeks to improve the functioning of health markets in developing countries to deliver better results for the poor. CHMI works to accelerate the diffusion of Health Market Innovations, programs and policies—implemented by governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), social entrepreneurs or private companies—that have the potential to improve the way health markets operate. These programs and policies enable the transactions between consumers and private healthcare providers to lead to better health and financial protection, especially for the poorest and most vulnerable.
To bridge the existing information gaps about Health Market Innovations and help diffuse promising programs, CHMI engages in three core activities -- Information, Analysis, and Linkages -- linked and integrated through the CHMI website. Users and contributors include program implementers and social entrepreneurs in the for‐profit and non‐profit private sectors, donors and investors, government policymakers and practitioners, and researchers from academic institutions.
Visit http://healthmarketinnovations.org/ to use the interactive web platform.
Project Overview
The private sector is large in many low and middle income countries, with an active marketplace for healthcare provision and financing. A number of studies have demonstrated that many patients in various countries rely on formal and informal private providers for key services, such as treatment of malaria, diarrhea, and acute respiratory infections. In addition, it is well‐established that financing for health services comes largely from private sources in many countries. In at least 19 countries in Asia and 15 countries in Africa—including several of the world’s most populous nations (China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria)—more than half of total health expenditures are private, out‐of‐pocket transactions.
These complex and largely unregulated health markets are frequently associated with uneven quality and lack of financial protection for the poor. However, a number of intriguing health delivery and financing innovations have emerged from these complex markets in recent years. When well‐implemented and scaled, innovations that harness market forces to deliver priority health interventions to the poor have the potential to improve health outcomes and financial protection, especially where the private sector is already large and public delivery of services is inadequate. Currently, there is inadequate information about these innovative delivery and financing mechanisms, which may contribute to the relative lack of attention given to private sector delivery approaches versus traditional public sector models.
The Results for Development Institute (R4D) established the Center for Health Market Innovations (CHMI) in July of 2009 with initial funding from the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. CHMI is a publicly accessible global knowledge platform consisting of a network of partners that collects, analyzes and disseminates information about health market innovations in developing countries and facilitates the exchange of information and creation of strategic linkages among key stakeholders. Specifically, CHMI engages in the following activities:
- Continuously and systematically identify and profile health market innovations in developing countries to build a comprehensive live database of existing programs
- Profile donors and investors supporting health market innovations
- Synthesize insights and perform comparative analysis of programs across different geographies and/or models
- Develop in-depth case studies of selected programs
- Commission impact evaluations to further assess the effectiveness of select innovative programs in improving access to priority interventions, promoting quality, and/or improving financial protection
- Foster communities of practice designed to share lessons, successful tools and practices
- Facilitate donor and investor funding flows to high‐impact, innovative programs
- Develop and promote national policy agendas that facilitate diffusion
In the first phase of this project, we are working with BroadReach, Access Health Initiative, and the Consultation for Investment in Health Promotion (CIHP) to landscape the market-oriented health programs in South Africa, India and Vietnam respectively. We will soon be adding new partners in several other countries, including the Andean region (Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru), Kenya, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines.
For more information, visit http://healthmarketinnovations.org/.
Related publications:
"Public Stewardship of Private Providers in Mixed Health Systems"
"Innovative Pro-Poor Healthcare Financing and Delivery Models"
Related projects:
Transforming Health Systems Initiative (THS)
The Role of the Private Sector in Health Systems
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