How We Work
We operate at the nexus of business, government, and health to save lives and reduce disease.
How We Work
We operate at the nexus of business, government, and health to save lives and reduce disease.
Our Approach
Our aim is not just to impact a problem, but to solve it.
We use a business-minded approach to shape healthcare markets to reduce the costs of lifesaving medications, diagnostics, and other health products in low- and middle-income countries. We work with governments to reform their health systems, targeting areas where current approaches are failing, moving too slowly, or at a scale that leaves too many dying or suffering needlessly.
With each new program our strategy remains the same: we work on large, ambitious projects; we work to make healthcare delivery more efficient; and we work with governments so change can be sustained without our support.
The results have been transformational. CHAI’s programs have helped millions of adults and children access lifesaving medicine to treat diseases they otherwise would have died from 15 years ago.
Our Approach
Our aim is not just to impact a problem, but to solve it.
We use a business-minded approach to shape healthcare markets to reduce the costs of lifesaving medications, diagnostics, and other health products in low- and middle-income countries. We work with governments to reform their health systems, targeting areas where current approaches are failing, moving too slowly, or at a scale that leaves too many dying or suffering needlessly.
With each new program our strategy remains the same: we work on large, ambitious projects; we work to make healthcare delivery more efficient; and we work with governments so change can be sustained without our support.
The results have been transformational. CHAI’s programs have helped millions of adults and children access lifesaving medicine to treat diseases they otherwise would have died from 15 years ago.
“We have 20 years of experience driving large-scale impact; deep and longstanding partnerships with ministries of health; and an incredibly talented, passionate team.”
Dr. Neil Buddy Shah, CHAI CEO
Degree of Impact
A CHAI program must drive dramatic improvement over current health outcomes.
Breadth of Impact
CHAI must change the way others approach a problem so that today’s transformation becomes tomorrow’s common wisdom.
Scale of Impact
A CHAI program must transform the approach to solving a problem at a large regional, national, or global scale.
Sustainability of Impact
Any change that CHAI enacts must be sustainable after we are gone.
We have strong government relationships
We have strong, trusted relationships with many partner governments. Governments know that we put their interests first, operate under their leadership, are focused on outcomes, and work quickly to get the job done.
We address market inefficiencies
We have developed a unique set of capabilities that enable us to identify and address market inefficiencies that impede access to affordable health products. CHAI lowers prices, enhances product design to fit the needs of resource-limited settings, decreases supply risks, and accelerates the availability of new products.
We can scale up rapidly
We have a proven ability to assist governments and the private sector to accelerate the rollout and scale-up of products, technologies, and services in our partner countries.
We are global experts
We have teams of global experts in various diseases, health financing, human resource development, maternal and infant health, family planning, applied analytics, clinical guidelines, regulatory matters, and laboratory services that can bring that expertise to our government partners.
We think critically
We have critical skills and experience in conducting rapid and rigorous analysis and managing complex change processes. We use critical thinking to interpret, analyze, synthesize and evaluate information, develop new models, identify appropriate solutions and organize ourselves so that we can successfully work and enable others.
We have a staffing matrix
We have a matrix staffing model that brings together the skills needed to solve a problem. We have teams of people with medical expertise, political skills, implementation experience, and those with backgrounds in business and other fields.
We respond quickly
We can respond quickly when opportunities and emergencies arise because of our flexible decision-making and staffing model, our willingness to take risks and occasionally fail, and our entrepreneurial and action-oriented culture.
We are lean and efficient
We are a lean and efficient organization that minimizes bureaucracy to meet our programmatic and legal obligations. Our operations teams serve as strategic partners to minimize barriers and mitigate risks in order to promote decentralization, entrepreneurialism, and urgency, in line with CHAI’s values.
Degree of Impact
A CHAI program must drive dramatic improvement over current health outcomes.
Breadth of Impact
CHAI must change the way others approach a problem so that today’s transformation becomes tomorrow’s common wisdom.
Scale of Impact
A CHAI program must transform the approach to solving a problem at a large regional, national, or global scale.
Sustainability of Impact
Any change that CHAI enacts must be sustainable after we are gone.We have strong government relationships
We have strong, trusted relationships with many partner governments. Governments know that we put their interests first, operate under their leadership, are focused on outcomes, and work quickly to get the job done.We address market inefficiencies
We have developed a unique set of capabilities that enable us to identify and address market inefficiencies that impede access to affordable health products. CHAI lowers prices, enhances product design to fit the needs of resource-limited settings, decreases supply risks, and accelerates the availability of new products.We can scale up rapidly
We have a proven ability to assist governments and the private sector to accelerate the rollout and scale-up of products, technologies, and services in our partner countries.We are global experts
We have teams of global experts in various diseases, health financing, human resource development, maternal and infant health, family planning, applied analytics, clinical guidelines, regulatory matters, and laboratory services that can bring that expertise to our government partners.We think critically
We have critical skills and experience in conducting rapid and rigorous analysis and managing complex change processes. We use critical thinking to interpret, analyze, synthesize and evaluate information, develop new models, identify appropriate solutions and organize ourselves so that we can successfully work and enable others.We have a staffing matrix
We have a matrix staffing model that brings together the skills needed to solve a problem. We have teams of people with medical expertise, political skills, implementation experience, and those with backgrounds in business and other fields.We respond quickly
We can respond quickly when opportunities and emergencies arise because of our flexible decision-making and staffing model, our willingness to take risks and occasionally fail, and our entrepreneurial and action-oriented culture.We are lean and efficient
We are a lean and efficient organization that minimizes bureaucracy to meet our programmatic and legal obligations. Our operations teams serve as strategic partners to minimize barriers and mitigate risks in order to promote decentralization, entrepreneurialism, and urgency, in line with CHAI’s values.Our Difference
We believe the best way to create large and sustainable change is to improve government and private health delivery systems, allowing limited resources to reach more people.
We do not provide health services ourselves. We negotiate global agreements that lower the prices of essential health products to make them more affordable and accessible in low- and middle-income countries.
At the same time, we help governments and the private sector in these countries to better organize and manage the delivery of health services and products to accelerate the introduction and usage of the best drugs, diagnostics, vaccines, and other health commodities and make them available well into the future.
Learn more
Our Difference
We believe the best way to create large and sustainable change is to improve government and private health delivery systems, allowing limited resources to reach more people.
We do not provide health services ourselves. We negotiate global agreements that lower the prices of essential health products to make them more affordable and accessible in low- and middle-income countries.
At the same time, we help governments and the private sector in these countries to better organize and manage the delivery of health services and products to accelerate the introduction and usage of the best drugs, diagnostics, vaccines, and other health commodities and make them available well into the future.
Learn more“It was evident early on that CHAI’s approach to solving problems was very different from the status quo.”
Dr. Mphu Ramatlapeng, EVP, Implementation
Our Staff
CHAI is designed to be a disruptive force in global health. We hire individuals who are entrepreneurial, action-oriented, and impatient for change. They are problem-solvers, with business, government, and global health experience. Most of our staff are located in the countries where we work. They are complemented by global teams of disease, technical, and business experts who support the work on the ground, as well as by a lean, central operations teams.
“CHAI empowers staff to use our creative freedom to solve large challenges with minimal bureaucracy”
Dang Ngo, VP – Southeast Asia Pacific; Country Director – Vietnam
Join Our Team
CHAI is looking for dynamic and self-motivated individuals who are committed to strengthening health systems around the world and expanding access to care and treatment of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other illnesses.