MICROCAPITAL STORY: PlaNet Finance teams with Pfizer to Research Healthcare Needs of Low-Income Chinese in pursuit of Effective Microinsurance and Microfinance Plus Services

Pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer Inc., and international non-profit, PlaNet Finance, have announced that they will collaborate on a research project to study the healthcare needs of low-income households in China. For Pfizer, the project will be a market analysis. As explained by a Pfizer press release, “The study will examine the availability and existing sources of medicines, patient purchasing patterns, and the level of access to medical services.” PlaNet Finance President Jacques Attali explained what role the non-profit dedicated to microfinance has in the healthcare study: “PlaNet Finance… has developed specific programs that link microfinance to healthcare – leveraging existing microfinance institution (MFI) infrastructure to implement awareness and prevention campaigns for malaria, HIV/AIDS, and other diseases.” He also explained that PlaNet Guarantee, a subsidiary of PlaNet Finance, has developed life and health microinsurance products for low-income populations. Ultimately, each organization aims to identify models that will allow them to expand provision of medicines and healthcare services to low-income Chinese.

Paris-based PlaNet Finance was founded in 1999 to provide consulting and technical assistance to MFIs, banks, and governments in the realm of microfinance and microinsurance. It has programs in 60 countries with 220 partner institutions. The Chinese branch of PlaNet Finance is based in Beijing and has been in operation since 2003.

The PlaNet Finance website lists Microfinance Plus as a core focus of the organization. Microfinance Plus services are non-financial programs that add social-value, and are “piggybacked” on MFI infrastructure. Besides health awareness programs, like those described by Mr. Attali above, Microfinance Plus programs can focus on education, environment, clean water, entrepreneurialism, the democratic process, etc.

The concept of MFI infrastructure being used as a platform to “piggyback” non-financial services is described by Grameen Foundation President Alex Counts in an interview found here on YouTube: “What microfinance has done… is go to the poor and ask them what financial services that they want… and to provide it to them… Once you have that relationship with [the poor], then [microfinance] is more than a product. It is the world’s largest aggregation of institutions with a direct relationship with the poor. When you think about that infrastructure, and you realize that most MFIs meet with their clients every seven days… you can do many things on that platform… Just to give one simple example, in Bangladesh, and in other poor countries, there are a lot of health myths… Because of these contact points between the educated people who work for MFIs and the poor, you have 52 opportunities a year to shatter myths – to provide accurate information on health, nutrition and political participation. Grameen can let 6 million families (currently over 7 million) know on seven days notice if there’s a new government program that they should be benefiting from but don’t know about. That can change the whole dynamic. If there is a disease that is striking livestock… that information can go out. For the poor, that information can be the difference between life and death.”

The downside of Microfinance Plus programs is that they are seldom financially sustainable, and thus must be subsidized. As described in the paper, “The Commercialization of Microfinance,” (p8) Microfinance Plus services that are provided by many small NGOs and government run MFIs in Bangladesh tend to cloud the organization’s financial performance and hinder its ability to become financially viable. Many MFIs lack transparency (p24) as a result of mixing Microfinance Plus programs with financial services in their books.

Little is stated about what healthcare or microinsurance programs PlaNet Finance expects to implement in China following its research project with Pfizer, and whether or not it will seek models that are financially viable.

By Ryan Hogarth, Research Assistant

Additional Resources:

Pfizer Inc.: Home

Pfizer Inc.: “PRESS RELEASE: Pfizer, PlaNet Finance Partner to Study Options for Expanding Access to Healthcare in China”

PlaNet Finance: Home

PlaNet Finance China: Home

“The Commercialization of Microfinance: Bangladesh,” by Stephanie Charitenko and S.M. Rahman, Asian Development Bank: September 2002

YouTube: “Interview with Alex Counts: Microfinance as a Platform”