Abstract:
10
Positioning Co-operatives as Partners in Global Health Agenda: How to go
about it in Africa
Paulo ANANIA
*
Moshi Co-operative University, Moshi, Tanzania
Shem Mbandu Angolo
The Co-operative University of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya
Alfred S. Sife
Moshi Co-operative University, Moshi, Tanzania
Abstract
Promoting global health is a trending agenda in global development. Its
achievement calls for the involvement of various stakeholders including co-
operatives. As socially responsible member-based organizations, co-operatives in
Africa are potential partners in promoting global health but there is a need to
strategize best approaches for their involvement. This paper shares strategies
through which co-operatives can, directly and indirectly, engage in the process.
Guided by the theory of social suffering and theory of access, the paper applies an
exploratory literature review approach to collect secondary data. Critical analysis
of various works of literature have been done where 41 kinds of literature on co-
operatives and global health were used based on a developed inclusion and
exclusion criteria. A review protocol was used as a tool to guide the review with a
focus on: health and demographic trends in Africa, options for co-operative model
inclusion in global health, and the local and global cases. Further, consultations
with stakeholders in co-operatives were done to collect evidence on local initiatives
towards health issues. The findings show that different empirically proven
strategies exist for co-operatives to engage directly and indirectly in promoting
global health. The strategies include: establishing hospitalization services,
providing health insurance, producing and supplying medical and nutritional
products, operating mobile clinics, engage in health research and dissemination of
health information, coordination of health service access and others. It is concluded
that co-operatives can be direct and indirect reliable partners in promoting global
health agenda in Africa. The paper calls for awakening the African co-operative
movement, policy reforms and stakeholders’ collaboration in mobilizing resources
and investments for active inclusion of the co-operative model in global health
agenda.
