The possible complementarity between microfinance and human, animal, plant, and environmental health (One Health) comes to the fore at this point in history for multiple reasons, and in one particular country, Bangladesh. There is the appointment of the founder of the Grameen Bank, a Nobel Prize winner, Professor Mohammad Yunus, who is the current interim President of Bangladesh.
The wider context is that there is increasing international recognition that siloing human health to one sector, keeping it separate from the broader ecosystem, will not be enough to address the multiple health challenges that are intrinsically multisectoral. They require engagement, not just at the international, regional, national, or local government policy and planning levels but also by the community itself. In the latter case, it is essential to provide the most vulnerable with the means to improve the likelihood of their well-being.
It is increasingly recognized that no single set of measures taken within one sector can adequately confront the prevalent and persistent problems of ill health, poverty, and social exclusion. Addressing global, community, and family needs with respect to human health will require cross-sectoral approaches, bringing to bear the enormous potential for the simultaneous achievement of both economic and health gains. Linking microfinance service delivery with broader health-related concerns and services is necessary albeit not easy.
To understand better why this is the case, it helps to take a closer look at Professor Muhammad Yunus, what he did and the Grameen Bank he created.
Who is Muhammad Yunus
In 1976, Muhammad Yunus obtained a loan from the Bangladeshi government Janata Bank to lend to the poor in a poor village in Bangladesh. This was followed by loans from other banks to provide similar services to their poor-friendly project clients. In 1983, Yunus’ pilot project became a full-fledged bank, renamed the Grameen Bank (“Village Bank”).
It is important to note that up until today, Yunus has been a thorn in the side of multiple Bangladeshi governments. In 2011, he was removed as Managing Director of Grameen on the basis of violating labor laws because he was over age, then 60. This year, before becoming interim President, as Time reported, under the then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in January 2024 Yunus and three other officials at his telecommunications company, Grameen Telecom, were sentenced to six months in prison for violating Bangladesh’s labor laws. (They were able to provide bail pending appeal.)
Grameen and Community Health
The Grameen Bank’s original structure and modus operandi constituted a groundbreaking, novel approach to “outreach” a target population, in particular rural populations that are notoriously difficult to reach. The Grameen Bank’s strategy was to place a bank officer and staff on the ground to support 15- 20 villages, and in a village were composed groups of five women, two of whom were eligible to receive a loan, monitored for a one-month period, with the credibility of the group based on the repayment performance. If the loans are paid back within a 50-week period, then other members would qualify to receive a loan.
This approach and basic principles are known globally as the “microfinance grassroots” model. Through its use, more than $2.1 billion in loans were provided to approximately 2 million people — 94% of whom were women. Many of the various models used throughout the world are extensions of the Grameen Bank model, which is modified to fit the needs of their situations.
From its earliest days, Grameen has been concerned with the health aspects of communities and their borrowers. It has broadened its areas of engagement to encompass such areas as core environmental-related matters. For example, in 1996 it created the Grameen Shakti, a subsidiary of Grameen, with the purpose, as its website explains:
By 2001, Grameen Shakti was operating its activities in full swing with a staff of 41 persons working from a head office, four regional offices, and 20 branch offices throughout Bangladesh. They offered microcredit for solar cells to be installed in home systems and by 2020 had installed 1.8 million Solar Home Systems (SHS), accounting for 33% of the world installation and 40% of the national installation, and benefiting 12 million people.
Starting in 2004, they promoted the use of biodigesters to produce clean-burning biogas from cow dung and other waste biomass. In 2006, they launched an Improved Cook Stove (ICS) program, eventually installing over 1 million ICS (35% of the total in the country). In 2019, they started to promote solar irrigation systems (SIS).
Interestingly, what they didn’t do was expand in an area that was originally part of their “vision and mission” statement: “building up Healthy Communities”. Yet, arguably, its ICS program contributed directly to an improved home environment conducive to better health. A concern for human health was and is clearly in the DNA of the Grameen Bank.
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One Health and Bangladesh
As I observed in many previous articles, the human, animal, plant, and environmental health interface is now being addressed in international fora, regional, and national public sector entities. Since 2017, Bangladesh has had its own One Health Strategy Framework and a One Health Secretariat. In February 2024, a multi-participant workshop was held to formulate a new Strategy for 2024-2030, and in part, to build on lessons learned from the COVID-19 experiences.
It has become increasingly clear that for One Health efforts to gain traction, they will ultimately depend on the extent to which communities are aware of, understand what options may exist for collective action, and financing to do so: This is crucial and it’s a make or break condition.
The advent of AI and the new Sustainable One Health Index (SOHI), designed to support a bottom-up approach, can make this task more doable. It was recently published in the Journal of Global, Public and One Health (JGPOH) and publicized on the One Health Initiative website.
Another complementary tool for use by those at the community level is “Global Goals at Home.” It allows its users to understand, measure, and decide on actions to address the United Nations Sustainable Goals for Goals.
Recognizing Bangladesh’s Possibilities of Effectively Linking Microfinancing and One Health
In some respects, Bangladesh today is in a unique position to use its extensive Grameen outreach and pursue a One Health approach at the community level. The Grameen principles and operations are anchored in the community, a One Health policy and governmental structure are in place, and its interim President, Muhammad Yunus, whose life history is tied to working from the ground up.
Yunus’ task will not be easy: In addition economic declines in the key garment sector, his most immediate challenge is to find some way to address the country’s current outbreak of religious tensions between its Hindu and Muslim communities. In recent years, the Bangladeshi Hindu minority (8% of the population), has been targeted by violent mobs several times, and in these last few days, there are reports about extensive attacks on Hindu temples and communities by Bangladeshi protesters.
However, as a recent DW fact-checker showed, many of the initial attacks were not true, suggesting that Yunus’ task may not be quite as daunting as it first seemed. And he would be building on the favorable ground prepared by the Grameen Bank across the country in rural areas.
If he is able to control the situation and turn it around to launch a dynamic One Health approach, it will be a poster example of a developing country showing the way to others, even those more fortunate.
Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed here by the authors are their own, not those of Impakter.com — In the Cover Photo: View of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Cover Photo Credit: UN Photo/Kibae Park / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
