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Access to Finance for Women-Owned Health Care Facilities: Global Lessons from Tanzania

The private health sector plays a critical role in meeting the health needs of women and the broader population. In fact, in many countries the private sector is a key provider of family planning, reproductive health, and maternal, newborn and child health. Reliance on the private health sector continues to grow and as a result, there is an increased need for investment—investments to meet demands in terms of capacity, availability of health services and quality. The challenge the private health sector faces, and in particularly small- and medium-sized facilities, is difficulty in securing access to loans for these investments. While this constraint is universal for all small and medium enterprises, regardless of gender, it tends to disproportionately affect women-businesses.

SHOPS Plus conducted a study of women franchisees, which analyzed how women owners of private health sector facilities are empowered by the increased opportunities social franchising provides. This report shares the main findings from the study and offers solutions to facilitate access to finance.