Grameen Bank of Bangladesh is teaming up with Pfizer in a project designed to extend affordable healthcare through private insurance to the world’s poor.

The world’s largest pharmaceutical company is to loan three senior employees for a year and provide an initial $200,000 (€136,000, £108,000) to expand Grameen’s co-operative network of rural clinics, which are funded by cheap, pre-paid insurance premiums and low service fees.