Dela Rosa, D. E. G. (2013). Women empowerment through microfinance and health education: Lessons learned in Altavas, Aklan (Unpublished master's thesis). Graduate School of Public and Development Management, Development Academy of the Philippines.

Graduate School of Public and Development Management Health Systems and Development Batch 3 Thesis (MPM-HSD)--Development Academy of the Philippines.

The integration of Microfinance with Health Education posits a plausible approach for eradicating the vicious cycle of poverty in developing countries. Microfinance has been considered as the essential key of providing economic resources to the poor by some practitioners; however, many studies do not consider 'debt' as a long-term solution to the predicament of the poor. Nonetheless, Health Education addresses three out of the eight Millennium Development Goals, which inevitable boosts the purpose of microfinance, and improves the organizational structure of such institutions. Hence, Health Education is deemed as the equilibrium point of the trade-off between Outreach and Sustainability among microfinance institutions. An empowerment approach wherein countless number of poor individuals would be involve and would pave way to a lucrative prospect for practitioners. Moreover, ease of repayment (microfinance) and activity (health education) were the specific measures that resulted into an improvement in the economic and community gender awareness aspect of women empowerment. The quantitative study was conducted to 251 members of microfinance institutions and health education programs. The qualitative study was conducted with key informant interviews and focus group discussions. The former comprised 5 important personas in the community while the latter comprised 6 groups made up o 7-10 people. The methodological triangulation/across method was used in order to ascertain various indicators and improve the reliability and validity of the study.