Inclusive businesses increase health care access in low-income communities

          Inclusive businesses (IB) in the health sector, promoted by the Philippine Board of Investments, are helping the ASEAN pursue its health agenda, which prioritizes universal access to quality health care, financial risk protection, and sustainable inclusive development for the ASEAN Community.

          IB models increase access to relevant goods, services, and livelihood opportunities by tapping partners, suppliers, distributors, customers, or employees from low-income communities. In the health sector, IB models make an impact in communities where health care products and services are inaccessible or not prioritized.

          The Philippines' Generika Drugstore pioneered a business model whose core offering is generic medicines, a move that transformed the country's' pharmaceutical retail industry and increased the demand for affordable and quality medicines. Generika has 690 stores in more than 70 Philippine municipalities, 68 percent of which are rural communities whose residents prioritize basic necessities over health care needs.

          Although Generika initially targeted low-income communities, the middle class also started patronizing generic medicines due to its affordability and effectivity. Right now, Generika conducts over 24 million transactions a year.

          Aside from access to affordable medicine, vaccination coverage is another challenge middle- and low-income Filipinos face. Glovax purchases vaccines from multinational pharmaceutical companies and distributes them to more than 3,000 community clinics. In the Philippines, only the upper income segment are covered by vaccination. The complete course of a newborn's vaccines alone can cost a low-income household 55 percent of its annual income. This makes them more vulnerable to fatal diseases which vaccination can easily prevent, such as acute Respiratory Infection (ARI), diphtheria, pneumonia, rabies, and tuberculosis.

          Glovax offers an installment payment option to make vaccines affordable to more Filipinos. To date, Glovax reduced as much as 75 percent of vaccines' price from multinational corporations, sold more than 5 million doses, and prevented 2 million people from having deadly diseases.

          "Adopting an inclusive business model is an opportunity that companies in the health sector should take as it also translates to growth in the long run," said Philippine Trade Undersecretary and Board of Investments Managing Head Ceferino S. Rodolfo. "Inclusive businesses can transform the health care sector and make it more responsive to the wider population, which in turn will create and engage markets to fuel business growth and deliver social impact at a wider scale."

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