Verified Medical Crowdfunding: A New Model for Transparent Healthcare Financing in Africa

Abstract

Healthcare finance in Sub-Saharan Africa is highly vulnerable to increasing reliance on out-of-pocket payments and loss of external funds. As a result, medical crowdfunding has become a prevalent method of alternative funding. However, traditional crowdfunding is plagued by systemic inequities, widespread fraud, and transparency deficits, undermining donor trust. This study aims to analyze the effectiveness of adopting Verified Medical Crowdfunding (VMC), a combination of institutional validation and decentralized technologies such as smart contracts, as a solution. The study uses a cross-sectional analysis of 1200 campaigns across Sub-Saharan Africa to assess the extent to which the campaigns met their target goals and whether they affected the amount of the donations, the perceived trust in the verification process and the time it took to fundraise and the number of frauds. Results show that 81.5% of the campaigns that have been verified in the institution are successful, whereas 14.2% from the campaigns that have not been verified. The greater the verification, the higher the donations, and the higher the donations, the higher the trust of the donor. In addition, direct to hospital disbursement models show a near- zero rate of fraud (0.3%) and an extremely rapid fund disbursement (3.2 days). It is concluded that a move towards verified and institutionally supported ecosystems is essential for transparent and equitable healthcare financing in Africa, while also ensuring sustainability.