Guaranteeing a healthy life and promoting universal well-being

Healthcare cooperativism is essential for many regions in the world. “In Spain, it might be a complementary system that helps the public health system, but in many parts of the world it is an alternative to any kind of healthcare,” Carlos Zarco warns. “In many countries there is no kind of healthcare and healthcare cooperativism can be a third route, in between public and private healthcare.” Accordingly, Doctor Zarco underscores experiences such as Unimed in Brazil, founded using a model based on Lavinia and Autogestió Sanitària, which form part of the Fundación Espriu, a cooperative of doctors that serves over 20 million people.

Accordingly, the Fundación Espriu works closely with international organisms to take its experience to other countries. “We are working with the International Labour Organisation and the International Health Cooperatives Organisation (IHCO), along with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, on a platform which gives access to all our experience,” Zarco explains. On the same platform there will be different legislations and the best practices for all those who consider that cooperativism is a good system for their country or social environment, “and we will put them in contact with support organisms.” “In Serbia, for example, there is a group of doctors who want to start up a health cooperative law and in this context, our mission is to promote and support it.”

Data

• Every day 17,000 less children die than in 1990, but at present over five million children die every year before reaching their 5th birthdays.
• The maternal mortality rate in developing regions is 14 times greater than in developed regions.
• Since the year 2000, vaccines against measles have prevented almost 15.6 million deaths.

The actions

• The Espriu Fundación gives healthcare cover to over 2.5 million people and it carries out 14 million healthcare actions per year (surgical operations, consultations and emergencies.)
• It promotes scientific advances in benefit of health. Such as the Collaboration Agreement with the Instituto del Vall d’Hebron, amongst many others.
• The Fundación Espriu promotes healthy living habits, such as Asisa’s dissemination campaigns about the importance of sleep #Duerme1HoraMás (Sleep1HourMore) and through the HLA blog.