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Anglophone Africa Health Insurance Workshop – Extending Health Insurance, How to Make It Work

Oct 23 2009

The Health Systems 20/20 team traveled to Ghana to prepare for and deliver the first African Regional Health Insurance Workshop from October 19-23 for 75 participants including five country teams that have health insurance proposals being debated (Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia) and three observer teams who are at earlier stages of health insurance (Liberia, Ethiopia, and Sierra Leone). The Workshop was co-funded by USAID’s Maternal Child Health Element Team, Africa Regional Bureau, and Office of Population and Reproductive Health, as well as a grant from the World Bank. USAID, the World Bank, and WHO co-sponsored the event.

Africa Health Insurance Workshop – Extending Health Insurance, How to Make It Work

The workshop addressed a growing interest in health insurance among African countries that face significant challenges: a majority of the population in the informal and rural sectors which are the most difficult to insure, large informal economies that are difficult to tax, removal of user fees which eliminates a classic incentive for a person to enroll in health insurance, and limited technical capacity in insurance design and operations. To address these challenges, Health Systems 20/20 developed original materials that break down the complex topic of health insurance into 8 design elements, summarize the literature, and provide country case examples and a field trip for each design element. The project also created an original workshop structure with unique features to enhance learning and lead participants to take actions when they return home. The Workshop was designed to be a practical, non-idealogical, hands-on learning experience. Workshop results included:

  • All five country teams developed a shared, realistic vision of how to move forward documented in their conclusions re design elements, and a team action plan of steps that the team members can take to move the process forward.
  • Increased regional coordination among USAID, World Bank, and WHO on health insurance through meetings of senior officials, concrete plans for in-country coordination among technical staff, and continued alignment of technical assistance through the “community of practice” started by the World Bank.
  • Detailed feedback from all participants to inform improvements of the materials and workshop design for future events.

Acknowledgements

Health Systems 20/20 is very grateful to the Ghana Ministry of Health for their extensive support that was critical to the success of the Workshop. The Deputy Minister’s warm welcome and closing gave the event a stature and attention that would not have been possible otherwise. The participants benefitted enormously from the Ghana Health Service and National Health Insurance Authority experts who took significant time out of their busy schedules to serve as presenters, moderators, and resource people over the five days; and receive the field trip groups in their offices and facilities to observe the Ghana health insurance scheme “in action”.

The Project also thanks USAID/Ghana for their participation; and the World Bank Senior Health Economist in Ghana for her valuable assistance to liaise with the Ghanain officials.

Objectives

The objectives of the workshop were that country teams would:

  • Share perspectives, experiences and challenges of implementing national health insurance with colleagues from Sub Saharan Africa;
  • Explore the options and strategies for designing national health insurance using eight design elements;
  • Understand different stakeholder perspectives in facilitating and supporting national health insurance;
  • Explore health insurance implementation challenges and seek advice and resources from peers and external partners on possible solutions;
  • Create a draft action plan for use to initiate or strengthen health insurance activities in each participant country.

Furthermore, the organizers had the objective to pilot the materials and workshop design to revise/improve for a future workshop event.

Workshop materials can be found under resources.