News: Chemonics Awarded USAID Program to Strengthen Health Markets to Improve FP and Other Health Outcomes Worldwide

The Frontier Health Markets Global Technical Assistance (FHM Global TA) program will focus on supporting local actors to improve the ability of health markets to meet supply-side capacity gaps and consumer preferences, contributing to equitable provision of and access to high-quality family planning and other health services and products in mixed health systems. Led by Chemonics with Results for Development as co-technical lead, alongside Pathfinder International and Zenysis Technologies, our core partners bring expertise in health market development, health systems, commodities and supply chain, financing, private sector engagement, family planning, and service delivery, among other areas essential to the program. Delivery of technical assistance to support local market actors will be led by an established group of 16 local, regional, and specialized organizations which includes ACCESS Health International, Africa Christian Health Association Platform, Africa Health Federation, Amref Health Africa, CERRHUD, Insight Health Advisors, Makerere University School of Public Health, Solina Group, Strategic Purchasing Africa Resource Center, Strathmore University, Total Family Health Organisation, Ubora Institute, Ariadne Labs, Metrics for Management, Scope Impact, and Stage Six.

“I’m honored that Chemonics and our phenomenal partners have been selected to lead this important global initiative,” said Global Health Division Senior Vice President Julie Becker. “We look forward to working with USAID and building on years of investment by the agency and other donors, as well as the excellent work implemented by other partners, to take these efforts to the next level with a fresh perspective. We are thrilled to play an important role in helping countries better harness the private sector to support their efforts toward universal health coverage.”

With a focus on countries where USAID currently supports family planning and other health activities, FHM Global TA will build on existing evidence and previous investments in strengthening the role of the private sector. It will use systems thinking to catalyze new ideas, partnerships, and innovative approaches to address key market challenges, and support the introduction, scale up, and sustainability of quality healthcare delivery in the private sector, promoting resilient and robust markets. Complementing existing global learning agendas, the program aims to enhance government stewardship of mixed health systems, enabling countries to better employ private sector ingenuity and popularity with consumers to contribute to family planning and other health outcomes.

FHM Global TA will be led by Project Director Cynthia Eldridge, a senior leader with experience in advising and supporting donors, multilateral organizations, health market actors, and implementing partners in developing strategies and solutions for health market development. Ms. Eldridge has worked across the public and private sectors in health program implementation; primary and reproductive healthcare service and product delivery; and healthcare financing. Additionally, she has served as a lead advisor to the WHO’s Advisory Group on Private Sector Governance and was project director for the African Health Markets for Equity grant program funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the U.K. Department for International Development before founding the global health consulting firm, Impact for Health.

“I am incredibly excited by what we have proposed for the FHM platform,” said Ms. Eldridge. “Our consortium’s approach to apply systems thinking to health market development and then deliver through local partner ecosystems brings novel approaches that we hope create a paradigm shift for the sector. On a personal level, FHM Global TA pulls together everything I care about and have worked towards throughout my career to ensure that clients – especially women and children – can access high-quality health services, products, and information from the provider or source that works best for them.”