This course will inform, engage, and prepare participants who are considering the feasibility and benefits of adding health to microfinance. The training will provide experience-based examples, lessons learned, cost information, and discussion about addressing the link between poverty and ill health without taking MFIs off-track or incurring undue expenses. This PPT: how and why to do market research

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Session 8
Market Research—A Key First Step to
Developing Health Protection
Products and Services
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Purpose of Market Research
To better understand the health care environment within
which the MFI is operating and to identify the health
needs of current and potential clients.
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This and the following pages reprinted from Market Research for Microfinance
and Health Protection: A Technical Guide for MFIs, ©2009 Freedom from Hunger.
Characteristics of Market Research
 Explain underlying reasons for behaviors and beliefs;
 Utilizes dialogue-based methods to develop a deep
understanding;
 It enables participants to discuss sensitive topics; and
 It accommodates illiteracy through use of verbal and visual
data-collection techniques.
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Types of Health Data Generated
Through Market Research
Types of Market Research Data Uses of Market Research Data
 Common illnesses
 Frequency and cost of treating illness and
disease
 Impact of illness on household finances
 Inform the design of health-related financial
services
 Preventive and coping strategies
 Availability and accessibility for clients to
local health care (doctors, midwives
medicines, hospital)
 Inform the design of linkages to health-
service providers
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Market Research Tools
Tools Purpose of theTools
Focus-Group
Discussions
 Discuss impact of disease on the household finances.
 Discuss what clients know already about prevention and treatment
of common illnesses.
 Examine challenges clients face in accessing local health services.
 Determine how clients currently pay for health care and the
challenges they face about paying for health-related expenses.
In-Depth Interviews
(MFI Management)
 Identify illnesses and disease that affect clients’ repayment
capacity.
 Assess the extent to which client illnesses affect the MFI’s financial
performance.
PRA on health care-
seeking behavior
 Identify where the community goes for different health services,
and which health providers and institutions they trust or value and
why.