Health and economic inclusion for an impactful mutualist movement

Our Objective

To facilitate access to healthcare for all by supporting the implementation of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in our areas of intervention in Benin (Mono and Atacora).

We focus our efforts on populations that are often excluded from traditional health insurance systems, particularly workers in the informal and agricultural sectors. To this end, we support the development of community health mutuals, which enable the sharing of health-related risks and improve the ability of people with low and irregular incomes to contribute to their healthcare.

Our actions

• Developing and strengthening community health mutuals and their unions (e.g. UMUSOP) to ensure pre-payment for care.
• Establishing innovative mechanisms (group membership via Social and Solidarity Economy Initiatives) to facilitate access to health insurance.
• Improving the quality of healthcare provision to strengthen trust and membership in mutual societies.
• Strengthening participatory governance, with a particular focus on women's participation and disease prevention.
• Providing medical equipment to partner health centres.
• Organisation of integrated community screening and awareness campaigns targeting both non-communicable diseases (hypertension, diabetes, breast and cervical cancer, etc.) and other preventable diseases (contagious, hygiene- and nutrition-related, etc.).
• Support advocacy for the mutualist movement to be involved in the operationalisation of Universal Health Coverage, particularly for populations in the agricultural and informal sectors, which account for more than 90% of the working population in certain regions such as Atacora.

Our impact

This project enables vulnerable households, who are often forced to finance their own healthcare, to access quality care throughout the year, prevent catastrophic healthcare expenditure, and strengthen their socio-economic resilience.