Idris Ahmed
3 November 2008
The World Bank, acting as administrator for the Global Partnership on Output-Based Aid (GPOBA), last week signed a grant agreement for $6.35 million with the Health Insurance Fund (HIF), a non-profit organization based in the Netherlands, to establish a community health scheme for low-income families in Lagos, Nigeria.
The scheme will provide affordable pre-paid health insurance plans for up to 22,500 beneficiaries (employees and their families) who belong to the Computer and Allied Products Association ("CAPDAN") at the Ikeja IT village in Lagos.
The services will be provided through a network of service providers managed by Hygeia Nigeria Limited, a local private sector health insurance entity. "The GPOBA project will provide low-income Nigerian families with access to affordable primary and maternal health care, as well as screening and treatment for HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis," Carmen Nonay, the Senior Infrastructure Specialist and task manager for the project for the World Bank and GPOBA, has said. Currently, only 1 million people in Nigeria, or 0.8 percent of the population, are covered by health insurance schemes. Many poor people have to pay out-of-pocket for medical care or do without. The National Health Insurance Scheme, introduced in 2004, is ultimately intended to cover all Nigerians, but many low-income populations are not expected to benefit for at least another 10 years. Under the GPOBA project, CAPDAN employees and their families will be able to access private health insurance at a subsidized rate. For example, in the first year, the premium for the insurance package will be $57 per person with a user contribution of only $10. In line with the output-based approach, GPOBA will pay the subsidy only after independent verification that the pre-agreed "outputs" or services have been delivered, thus ensuring efficiency and accountability of the service provider. The GPOBA project is drawing on funds from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group. IFC is providing grant financing under its Performance-Based Grants Initiative for increased access by the poor to high-quality health care by private sector providers in Nigeria. By expanding the role of private firms in delivering essential public services and fostering innovation in public-private partnerships, this initiative seeks to enhance IFC's development impact beyond what is possible with traditional IFC instruments alone. "We expect this pre-paid health insurance scheme to have strong development and demonstration impacts by expanding access to health care for low-income communities and encouraging other health maintenance organizations to offer similar programs", Guy Ellena, IFC Director for Health and Education, said.
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