Model and Strategy
One billion people in the developing world lack access to basic health care. This disproportionately affects women. In Western Kenya, 70% of women face barriers to receiving care, 40% have home births without a doctor or midwife, 60% receive no postnatal care, and only 60% have access to contraceptives.
Living Goods has a solution for delivering basic health care that allows women to not only survive, but thrive. By combining proven health interventions, business principles, and mobile technology, Living Goods is improving health while creating livelihoods for enterprising women. Living Goods recruits, trains, equips, and manages a network of primarily female health entrepreneurs—called Community Health Promoters (CHPs)—who go door to door providing health education, treating illness, and selling health products to their neighbors. CHPs leverage the power of female connection to ensure every woman has access to the knowledge and resources she needs to raise a healthy family.
Impact
Living Goods believes that by placing a well-trained and well-equipped CHP in every community, they can dramatically improve the lives and health of poor mothers and children. Doing so would be every bit as transformative as the discovery of a new vaccine or the eradication of a disease. They believe that women—when armed with the right resources and knowledge—hold the power to save millions of lives.
Community health workers, such as Living Goods’ CHPs, are community members with basic training that address the essential health needs of their neighbors. They prevent acute illnesses and relieve pressure on overburdened primary health facilities and doctors. There are four areas proven to dramatically impact child survival that can be treated easily and at low cost by a well-trained, equipped, and managed CHP: pregnancy and newborn care, childhood illnesses (malaria, pneumonia, diarrhea), referring high-risk cases, and nutrition. In 2014, best-in-class researchers completed a Randomized Control Trial (RCT) — the gold standard in evaluation — of Living Goods’ model proving that by focusing on these key areas, CHPs are reducing under-five child deaths by 27%.
Living Goods also improves the lives of CHPs themselves. In order to best serve moms and children, CHPs must be armed with the right training, supplies, and motivation to succeed. The money CHPs earn, the recognition they receive, and their community-oriented spirit, keep them highly motivated. CHPs use their additional income to send children to school, put a tin roof on their house, or start a small business.
Leadership
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Chuck Slaughter
Founder