IHCO participated at the meeting hosted by International Labour Organisation, ILO, in Geneva on 23 May to discuss the potential of health cooperatives to adapt to different geographic, political and socio-economic contexts. With the participation of the ILO’s Cooperatives Unit, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the Novartis Social Business, and the consultancy LPS, the objective of the meeting was to take advantage of the versatility of health cooperatives for developing healthcare projects in medium- and low-income countries.
Two projects have been identified in Africa; an insurance cooperative in Kenya, where a health promotion project could be developed, and a cocoa producers’ cooperative in Cameroon interested in offering healthcare to its members. Both projects follow the model of well-established cooperatives working in different sectors that are willing to extend their activity to the health domain and meeting the health needs of their communities.
