Colombian citizens have a guaranteed right to healthcare and enrollment in the national healthcare plan is compulsory.
However, lack of access to timely medical care and treatment has led to unnecessary deaths and health inequities among women.
Sixty-one percent of premature deaths among women are due to cancer and cardiovascular disease. And preventative healthcare is limited: fewer than 1 in 4 women who need a mammogram have access to the procedure.
Bive, derived from the Spanish phrase “Vivir con Bienestar” meaning to “live with well-being," is a female-led social enterprise that provides affordable, high quality healthcare access to low-income women in Colombia’s Caldas and Risaralda states. The innovative business provides women with treatment options and education—knowledge that empowers them to make decisions about their health. Bive is also a leader in establishing grassroots partnerships that serve both individual and community needs.
A member of the UNDP Business Call to Action network, Bive demonstrates how entrepreneurial approaches to social impact can be amplified by development co-operation that brings together international learning with local wisdom and culture. It is such co-operation that the Kampala Principles aim to promote.
