The power of profit : People-led social enterprises
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Shobha Shukla- CNS
While community-led organisations are playing a critical role in the people-centred delivery of HIV prevention, care and treatment services, financial sustainability often becomes a major roadblock for them. Social entrepreneurship could be an innovative business model to generate revenue and keep them afloat, despite shrinking donor funding. Apart from creating financial stability, social enterprises also impact innovative HIV pre- vention, treatment and care models, new partnerships with the private sector, and increased inclusion for gender diverse people.
A few such thriving social enterprises were showcased at the world's largest AIDS conference (25th International AIDS Conference or AIDS 2024). One such example that struck me was the first peer-led pharmacy TAAL (Treatment, Adherence, Advocacy and Literacy) of India that was established in 2006 in Pune by the Network of Maharashtra People Living with HIV (NMP+).
The birth of TAAL
The brain behind starting this enterprise is Manoj Pardeshi, founding member of (NMP+), and also of National Coalition of People Living with HIV in India (NCPI+).
"In those initial years, there was no funding. Later donors came but their funding was as per their own respective mandates, while the needs of the community could be different. So we thought of having a separate funding mechanism that would cater to our unmet needs. That is how TAAL became a social entrepreneur model to provide quality antiretroviral medicines at affordable rates to those who were accessing treatment in the private sector," shared Manoj.
He clarified that while free HIV treatment is available in India's public health sector, some people living with HIV prefer seeking treatment from the private sector due to fear of stigma, discrimination, loss of confidentiality, or other reasons. There was a need for avenues to provide subsidised, affordable and quality-assured medications to them in a community-friendly and stigma-free environment. Thus was born TAAL - a peer-led community pharmacy to provide high-quality and affordable diagnostics, treatment and peer-counselling services to people living with HIV, especially those who were accessing treatment from the private sector.
TAAL tapped into the corporate social responsibility programmes of pharma- ceutical companies, and received lifesaving antire- troviral medicines for less than one-third to one-tenth of their price in the open market, passing on the financial benefits to its clientele.
From TAAL to TAAL+
All seemed to be going well when COVID-19 struck and in 2020, suddenly the lockdown happened. Clients of TAAL could no longer come physically to the pharmacy to buy their medicines.
“That gave us the idea to start online services pan-India and not limit them to just one city. We discussed this with FHI 360, which manages the meeting targets and maintaining HIV epidemic control (EpiC) project of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and with support from EpiC we put this concept into actual action”, shared Manoj.
Thus, with support from USAID, TAAL transitioned from a community pharmacy to TAAL+, an inte- grated healthcare centre. It launched an online sales platform in February 2023 - the first-ever peer-led ePharmacy platform of India.
“Through this platform we now do e-consultation, e-counselling, and our clients can order their medicines online for home delivery across India. Medicines reach their doorsteps within 2-3 days. 70% of our clientele now use the e-platform," said Manoj.
TAAL+ is a one stop shop : TAAL+ is a one stop shop, providing not only accessible and affordable diagnostics, medication and counselling services for HIV, including access to prevention tools like PrEP and PEP, but also for HIV-related co-infections like TB, Hepatitis B and C, and HIV-associated cancers. It also provides screening and medication for non-communicable diseases like hyper- tension, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cervical cancer, and management of mental health.(To be contd)
While community-led organisations are playing a critical role in the people-centred delivery of HIV prevention, care and treatment services, financial sustainability often becomes a major roadblock for them. Social entrepreneurship could be an innovative business model to generate revenue and keep them afloat, despite shrinking donor funding. Apart from creating financial stability, social enterprises also impact innovative HIV pre- vention, treatment and care models, new partnerships with the private sector, and increased inclusion for gender diverse people.
A few such thriving social enterprises were showcased at the world's largest AIDS conference (25th International AIDS Conference or AIDS 2024). One such example that struck me was the first peer-led pharmacy TAAL (Treatment, Adherence, Advocacy and Literacy) of India that was established in 2006 in Pune by the Network of Maharashtra People Living with HIV (NMP+).
The birth of TAAL
The brain behind starting this enterprise is Manoj Pardeshi, founding member of (NMP+), and also of National Coalition of People Living with HIV in India (NCPI+).
"In those initial years, there was no funding. Later donors came but their funding was as per their own respective mandates, while the needs of the community could be different. So we thought of having a separate funding mechanism that would cater to our unmet needs. That is how TAAL became a social entrepreneur model to provide quality antiretroviral medicines at affordable rates to those who were accessing treatment in the private sector," shared Manoj.
He clarified that while free HIV treatment is available in India's public health sector, some people living with HIV prefer seeking treatment from the private sector due to fear of stigma, discrimination, loss of confidentiality, or other reasons. There was a need for avenues to provide subsidised, affordable and quality-assured medications to them in a community-friendly and stigma-free environment. Thus was born TAAL - a peer-led community pharmacy to provide high-quality and affordable diagnostics, treatment and peer-counselling services to people living with HIV, especially those who were accessing treatment from the private sector.
TAAL tapped into the corporate social responsibility programmes of pharma- ceutical companies, and received lifesaving antire- troviral medicines for less than one-third to one-tenth of their price in the open market, passing on the financial benefits to its clientele.
From TAAL to TAAL+
All seemed to be going well when COVID-19 struck and in 2020, suddenly the lockdown happened. Clients of TAAL could no longer come physically to the pharmacy to buy their medicines.
“That gave us the idea to start online services pan-India and not limit them to just one city. We discussed this with FHI 360, which manages the meeting targets and maintaining HIV epidemic control (EpiC) project of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and with support from EpiC we put this concept into actual action”, shared Manoj.
Thus, with support from USAID, TAAL transitioned from a community pharmacy to TAAL+, an inte- grated healthcare centre. It launched an online sales platform in February 2023 - the first-ever peer-led ePharmacy platform of India.
“Through this platform we now do e-consultation, e-counselling, and our clients can order their medicines online for home delivery across India. Medicines reach their doorsteps within 2-3 days. 70% of our clientele now use the e-platform," said Manoj.
TAAL+ is a one stop shop : TAAL+ is a one stop shop, providing not only accessible and affordable diagnostics, medication and counselling services for HIV, including access to prevention tools like PrEP and PEP, but also for HIV-related co-infections like TB, Hepatitis B and C, and HIV-associated cancers. It also provides screening and medication for non-communicable diseases like hyper- tension, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cervical cancer, and management of mental health.(To be contd)