PharmAccess mobilizes public and private resources for the benefit of doctors and patients through clinical standards and quality improvements, loans for healthcare providers, health insurance, mHealth innovations and operational research.
Big news: PharmAccess has been awarded an additional grant from Grand Challenges Canada (GCC) to expand SafeCare, our healthcare quality programme, into India — piloting an innovative micro-entrepreneur and business model to bring quality improvement directly to small and mid-size health facilities.
This new grant builds on years of close collaboration with GCC. Together, we ran our digital platform across facilities in Kenya, Tanzania, and Nigeria, using 20 of them as a test group for new features, from in-app messaging to WhatsApp push notifications. The goal was to better understand what motivates health facilities to prioritise quality improvement.
The results were clear: 85% of facilities using the new digital platform measurably improved their quality of care, benefitting thousands of patients. Beyond quality outcomes, the programme also demonstrated that SafeCare can be both sustainable and scalable through the right partnerships. And in Kisumu, Kenya, we took a first step into climate-health, piloting our new Green Standards to assess how facilities perform on environmental sustainability alongside clinical care.
Now, the focus shifts to India. Over the next 18 months, we will train 20 to 30 local micro-entrepreneurs to go directly into health facilities, evaluate how they are performing, and guide them on raising standards of care. This more agile, locally rooted model is designed to bring better care closer to the people who need it most. We will also explore opportunities in Bangladesh and Nepal.
By the end of the project, we aim to reach more than 220 facilities and improve the lives of over 223,000 people.
“This is what committed, long-term partnerships make possible,” said Roelinde Bakker, Director SafeCare. “Thank you to Grand Challenges Canada for their continued support and trust in SafeCare’s mission.”
This project is undertaken with the support of Grand Challenges Canada and funded by the Government of Canada.
