Participants attending the African Health Insurance Workshop in Accra on Friday called on governments on the continent to emulate the health insurance modules being implemented in Ghana and
Rwanda to improve on health care delivery.
A communiqué issued at the end of the four-day workshop, said the scheme in Ghana had within a short period covered 60 per cent of the
population while about 91 per cent of the population in Rwanda were covered within the same period.
The workshop was sponsored by USAID's Global Health Systems 20/20 Project, the World Bank, World Health Organisation, International Labour
Organisation and Rockefeller Foundation.
The participants were drawn from Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia and Tanzania.
The participants discussed the modalities and implications of crafting a health insurance scheme, how to upgrade existing ones, and the need to
make health insurance affordable to the poor.
Dr Benjamin Kumbuor, Deputy Minister of Health reiterated the need to scale up health insurance on the continent to make health care delivery affordable.
He noted that although the scheme in Ghana was facing some challenges, it still remained an inspiration to the rest of the continent.
Dr Kumbuor gave the assurance that government would assist to improve the schemes in other African countries.