The Atlantic Philanthropies’ Investments in Community-Based Health Care

This report shares the story, strategies and impact of Atlantic’s $452 million investment to support and strengthen community-based health care in Viet Nam, South Africa, Cuba, and the United States (U.S.) from 2004-2016. It offers a number of learnings centered around taking a systems-based approach to grantmaking and working with both governments and advocacy groups to improve health outcomes for populations across the globe.

Atlantic’s strategy included:

• Investing in strong leaders in under-resourced communities that had the right conditions for change.
• Funding rigorously evaluated pilot projects at the community level that could serve as models to scale up for regional and national replication.
• Bolstering key population health institutions and human resources.
• Strengthening human resources in health—that is helping ensure that the people who are working to improve health at all levels have the skills, equipment, and support to do their jobs as effectively as possible.
• Partnering with government and insisting on buy-in, including financial contributions, to increase the chances of sustainability.

The report found that Atlantic’s funding over the years:

• Influenced governments in Viet Nam and South Africa to increase their investments in primary health care and systems to better reach the most underserved populations
• Supported groups to successfully advocate for policy change that led to wider availability of needed health care
• Helped lead to significant new funding in the U.S. for school-based health centers
• Spurred new community partnerships in the U.S. modeled on Cuba’s successful approach to producing outstanding health outcomes at a fraction of the spending in the U.S.

Atlantic commissioned this report.

> Download the Full Report
> Read the Executive Summary