The Health Store - Amazing Franchises

First Kenya, Now Rwanda: The HealthStore Foundation Expands Its Innovative CFW Franchise to Fight Malaria and Other Killer Diseases


The HealthStore Foundation®, a global leader in the use of franchising to distribute basic healthcare in the developing world, has opened its flagship Child and Family Wellness clinic (CFWclinic) in Rwanda. This clinic will extend high-quality basic healthcare to rural residents of Rwanda, treating common and debilitating diseases such as malaria, respiratory infections, and intestinal worms. Emmanuel Ndoba, HealthStore’s Country Director in Rwanda, will oversee the launch of dozens more CFW clinics in Rwanda in the years to come.



According to the World Health Organization, nearly 30,000 children die every day, most because they lack access to medicines and preventive services that cost less than a cup of coffee. The HealthStore Foundation® was organized in 1997 to prevent such needless suffering and death by improving access to essential drugs and basic healthcare to children and families in the developing world. The HealthStore Foundation’s CFW franchise network in Kenya comprises 67 clinics and drug shops owned and operated by Kenyan nurse practitioners and healthcare workers. This CFW network has served approximately 2,000,000 patients and customers in Kenya since inception in 2000. The HealthStore Foundation® intends to grow the Kenya franchise network to more than 200 outlets within the next five years.



The HealthStore Foundation’s® CFWclinic in Rwanda is located 30 minutes drive from Kigali, the capital city. “Today is a landmark day for The HealthStore Foundation® and for the CFW brand,” said Greg Starbird, HealthStore’s Vice President. “Our first patient in Rwanda was a small child presenting with fever. The CFWclinics operator, who is a nurse, diagnosed malaria and treated the child with high-quality medicine. Patient No. 1 marks the first of what The Healthstore Foundation® expects to become millions in the coming years as we grow the CFWclinics network throughout Rwanda.”



The HealthStore Foundation® expects to launch as many as 12 more CFW franchise networks in sub-Saharan Africa over the next five years, according to Starbird. “Each will apply to the problem of African healthcare the same franchise business methods proven so successful in dozens of other industries from hotels to donuts,” says Starbird.



About The HealthStore Foundation®:

The HealthStore Foundation® is a US 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation founded in 1997 and based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The HealthStore Foundation's international board of directors and advisors include world-class global health experts as well as some of the world's top franchise industry leaders who have successfully built franchise brands including Mail Boxes, Etc., A&W, Long John Silver’s, Postnet, Subway and others in multiple industries.

The HealthStore Foundation® has received support from such organizations as ExxonMobil Foundation, Procter & Gamble, USAID, Rockefeller Foundation, the International Finance Corporation, Acumen Fund, the Oswald Family Foundation, Rotary International, Bridgeway Foundation, the Mulago Foundation, Hot Dish Advertising, PostNet, Michael H. Seid & Associates, and the David Weekley Family Foundation.



More information is available at www.healthstore.org



Media Contact:

Greg Starbird, Vice President, The HealthStore Foundation®

+1 (952) 457-9505 (mobile), greg@healthstore.org