Summary

The Eastern Viasayas Area Cooperation in Health (EVAcoh) consists of social health enterprises (SHEs) organized by PHANSUP, a nongovernmental organization , working in tandem with the VICTO and its network of cooperatives in Region 8. It is a method of investment in the provision of health services.

Program goals

A social health enterprise is a method of investment in the provision of health services and commodities alternative to the traditional methods of private for-profit investment (business enterprise) or government investment (development project). 

Using these cooperatives as vehicles, PHANSUP (a national NGO based in Quezon City) has organized ten cooperative (coop, in short) pharmacies, pharmacy-clinics, and one birthing center where coop members and non-members alike can purchase drugs and obtain health services.  These SHEs are unique in that they are community-owned and –managed, and obtain their mandates from their mother coops.

Key program components

These partner cooperatives were established between 1968 and 2000.  They have total membership of 58,537.  Their combined assets reached PHP 1.2 billion at the end of 2012, with total equity of PHP 387.8 million and total share capital of PHP 279.6 million. The pharmacy and clinic SHEs were established in 2011 and 2012, with one being established in February 2013. The EVAcoh project, which obtained funding from the European Union, provided an equity infusion of PHP 370,500 for each of the SHEs in the form of initial seeding of drugs plus training and institutionalization support.  In turn, each of the coops contributed on average PHP 200,000 equity.  The mother coops provide additional support through their own Community Development Funds which totaled PHP 2.7 million in 2012, and their own Community Educational and Training Fund (used for the training of health volunteers), which totaled PHP 5.0 million in 2012.