Future Now
The IFTF Blog
Avon calling . . . to improve health in developing countries?
I came across an organization called LivingGoods--the banner on its website certainly piqued my interest:
But the first sentence in the description of LivingGoods struck me as odd: "Living Goods operates Avon-like networks of door-to-door Health Promoters who make a modest income selling essential health products at prices affordable to the poor." Avon calling? In Africa?
Further explanation followed:
The model combines the latest and best practices from the fields of micro finance and public health to create a truly sustainable system for improving access to basic health products and defeating the diseases of poverty.
Living Goods is also a vital force of economic development, improving livelihoods by providing rural women a reliable source of income as Health Promoters, by keeping wage earners healthy and productive, and by averting costly medical treatments through prevention.
The website points out that 10 million children die every year of largely preventable and/or treatable diseases like malaria, TB, and worms, and secondary conditions like diarrhea. The problem is not that we don't have the medical know-how to deal with these illnesses; rather, we lack "efficient, scalable, sustainable means of delivering" medical solutions. This is where LivingGoods comes in.
Currently established in Uganda, with plans to replicate its model elsewhere, LivingGoods "reduces illness and death by significantly improving access to simple, proven health interventions in the many places these are scarce." It makes "essential health products [available] at prices affordable to the poor."
Like Avon, LG Health Promoters sell products to their neighbors from "a diverse basket of goods." These items emphasize "prevention like bed nets, condoms and water treatment, and complimented with home and personal care items to enhance their income and sustainability." Also like Avon,
the Living Goods model has powerful benefits for micro entrepreneurs: 1) A proven business-in-a-box system heavily supported with training, marketing and coaching 2) Low start up costs of just $100-$250 supported with simple low-cost financing, and 3) Flexible hours and lifestyle: Sellers can work on their own schedule and in their own communities. . . .
Providing effective, sustainable incentives to village-based health workers is at the core of the Living Goods model. Through these simple economic incentives LG creates a virtuous circle. The more profitable the Health Promoter is, the more time she will invest in her work, and thus the greater the health impact she will have.
Is LivingGoods' business model really improving health outcomes? It is too soon to tell. But the organization is participating in randomized control studies, in collaboration with the Poverty Action Lab (PAL), to measure its primary objectives of reducing mortality rates for children and lowering fertility rates. One of its stated five year goals is to "[d]emonstrate . . . that the program can meaningfully lower all-cause mortality and morbidity in target communities by 25-50%."