The UN analyses the role of cooperativism in the universalization of healthcare in developing countries

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22.05.2019

The UN analyses the role of cooperativism in the universalization of healthcare in developing countries

The process of creation, funding, and the challenges that healthcare cooperatives face in these countries are some of the topics covered in the seminar being held over the next few days in Istanbul.

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Carlos Zarco, President of the International Health Cooperative Organisation (IHCO) and Director of the Espriu Foundation

The United Nations, along with the Istanbul Aydin University, is hosting the Cooperatives in Social Development: Towards Universal Healthcare” seminar, with the aim of analysing the role of cooperatives as a healthcare model, and the challenges they are likely to face in the future.

The event launch, which took place this Tuesday in the Turkish city of Istanbul, was organised by Wenyan Yang, head of the Social Perspective on Development Branch at the United Nations, and professor Sedat Aybar of the Istanbul Aydin University.

Various experts spoke throughout the seminar, including Andrew Allimadi, Communication Officer at the United Nations, who gave a summary of the work carried out by the UN in relation to cooperative healthcare. Furthermore, the contribution of this business model to the social and economic development of Kenya and the Solomon Islands, and the steps that should be taken in order to accelerate the growth of this sector in Africa and the South Pacific were also analysed.

Within the healthcare sector, Carlos Zarco, President of the International Health Cooperative Organisation (IHCO) and Director of the Espriu Foundation, the Spanish healthcare cooperative network that ranks second in the world, this morning shared his experience of the cooperatives’ contribution to healthcare, especially the coverage of services they provide to their members, as well as the importance of creating support networks and collaborations with other countries with the aim of establishing healthcare systems based on the cooperative model in those countries.

Carlos Zarco, President of the International Health Cooperative Organisation (IHCO) and Director of the Espriu Foundation“It gives me great pleasure to share the experience of the Espriu Foundation’s member entities, in the knowledge that it serves as a reference model for the development of healthcare systems in other countries, especially in those of low or medium income,” said Zarco.

The director of the foundation, which is made up of the entities Asisa, Lavinia S. Coop, Autogestió Sanitària and Instalaciones Asistenciales Sanitarias Scias SCCL, has also pointed to the huge capacity of cooperatives to adapt to different economic and social contexts.

Throughout the seminar, which will be taking place until Thursday 24 May, experts form across the world will broach subjects such as the process of establishing a cooperative system, their funding, and the importance of support from credit entities in their contribution to the development of healthcare cooperatives.

Aspects such as legislation and administrative processes concerned with healthcare cooperatives and the challenges that these models present in developing countries were also analysed. The seminar will conclude this Thursday with an interactive visit to a cooperative located in Istanbul.

This event, along with the one held in Nairobi this March to analyse the role of cooperatives as part of the 2030 Agenda, shows the UN’s recognition of cooperatives as a model that contributes to the universalization of healthcare.

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