Community health day benefits Cagayanos

A total of 1,463 Cagayanos recently benefited from the two-day Community Health Day conducted by the MFIs for Health or Joint Microfinance and Health Protection Program in Gonzaga and Aparri, Cagayan Valley.

During the community health day, microfinance clients who have low or no access to health care availed of free dental care and extraction, free generic medicines and medical check-up.

ASA Philippines Foundation Inc. and CARD Mutually Reinforcing Institutions (CARD MRI) hosted the activity.

The partnership among 18 MFIs implementing health programs already conducted 15 community health day across the country serving 14,304 Filipinos from its establishment on August 2012.

The MFIs for Health shares mutual goal of inclusive provision of health services to microfinance clients as part of their overall social development. In general, it strives to build strong partnership among the 18 participating MFIs in the Philippines to implement an integrated health and microfinance services to MFI clients and make a positive impact in the country’s health situation, and thus contribute to raising the quality of lives of the Filipino people. The program aims to improve the health situation of the MFI clients by making local health delivery system more accessible to them.

The MFIs for Health began as an initiative of CARD MRI, a group of mutually reinforcing institutions which provides microfinance, microinsurance, and other social development programs in health, education and livelihood. Founded by Dr. Jaime Aristotle Alip, CARD MRI realized that the poor will be effectively reached by the program if it engages other MFIs; hence, an agreement among MFIs in the country was formed to replicate CARD MRI’s microfinance and health protection program.