CARD serves all regions of the Philippines and reaches over 1 million clients through its bank, CARD Bank, Inc. and non-governmental organization (NGO) CARD Inc.; combined it is known as CARD Mutually Reinforcing Institutions (CARD MRI).CARD MRI is one of the largest groups of social development institutions in the Philippines, including the largest MFI, and is a convening actor of the Philippine Microfinance and Health Consortium, which is a collaboration of CARD, the Microfinance and Health Alliance, and 18 Filipino MFIs (Rivera 2014). CARD also provides clients with health education, loans for the PhilHealth national insurance payments as well as support for enrollment in PhilHealth and provides medicine points and linkages to local health providers that serve clients with discounted rates.
CARD clients throughout the Philippines were the sampling universe for this survey. Researchers used a multistage, simple random-sampling protocol; first among the country’s regions, then CARD branches, then the branch units and then among clients of those units. The total sample size consisted of 472 participating mature clients. The clients chosen as part of the sample frame included those who had been with CARD for at least two years. Fifty-three percent had been members for two to four years; 39 percent had been members for five to seven years; and 10 percent had been members for eight years or more.
CARD Survey Branches
The poverty levels of mature CARD clients are less than the national average for the national poverty line, the $1.25 per day and the $2.50 per day international poverty lines. Fewer CARD clients are enrolled in PhilHealth than the national average (shown in Figure 7 as red box similar to other benchmarks) but a greater number of CARD clients are enrolled compared to the percentage of the national population who represent the informal sector, or those representing migrant workers, micro and small entrepreneurs and other self-earning individuals (shown in Figure 7 as pink box, but informal sector is estimated to be no more than approximately 50 percent enrollment—Quimbo2013). More CARD clients have reported seeking a physical exam in the past year compared to the national average. (This should be interpreted with some caution because the national benchmark is based on physical exams conducted in the last 30 days, not in the last year as is referenced in the HOPI tool). CARD clients are consistent with national averages when it comes to drinking safe water (whether they treat or drink from an improved water source).
The indicators that were associated with poverty are food security status, whether clients drink from an improved water source or treat their water and whether they have delayed medical treatment or purchase of medicines due to cost; thus the poorer the client, the more likely she is to be food insecure, fail to drink from improved water sources, fail to treat her water and delay medical treatment and purchase of medicines due to cost.
CARD HOPI Dashboard[1]
This is an excerpt from the full report: Healthy, Wealthy and Wise: How Microfinance Institutions Can Track the Health of Clients. Health Outcome Performance Indicators (HOPI) Project Report (2015). (
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[1]Poverty benchmarks: PPI for the Philippines ( PhilHealth nationalbenchmark 80%:Balena, R T & AL Buted. PhilHealth.gov.ph/news/2014/; PhilHealth informal marketbenchmark at 50%: Quimbo SA. 2013. Moving from Universal Health Coverage to Effective Financial Protection: Evidence from a Health Insurance Experiment in the Philippines.University of the Philippines School of Economics.Water treatment and sources, medical checkup benchmarks:Philippines National Demographic and Health Survey 2013.