Publication database

“Can health microinsurance (HMI) schemes achieve sustainability?” As with many seemingly simple questions, there is no simple answer. The answer to this question is of interest to a variety of parties. Insurance providers seek to understand if there is a viable business case for offering an HMI product. Health-care providers and pharmaceutical companies are interested in whether or not HMI can be a means for broadening coverage. Donors and other funding organizations want to know if HMI is a viable investment as a means to improve health-care access, health outcomes and financial protection for the low-income population. Governments consider how to use HMI schemes as a step towards universal health coverage.

Briefing Note 35 presents results from a review of the financial performance of five schemes in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

“Can health microinsurance (HMI) schemes achieve sustainability?” As with many seemingly simple questions, there is no simple answer. The answer to this question is of interest to a variety of parties. Insurance providers seek to understand if there is a viable business case for offering an HMI product. Health-care providers and pharmaceutical companies are interested in whether or not HMI can be a means for broadening coverage. Donors and other funding organizations want to know if HMI is a viable investment as a means to improve health-care access, health outcomes and financial protection for the low-income population. Governments consider how to use HMI schemes as a step towards universal health coverage.

This paper seeks to answer this simple yet crucial question based on the experiences of five schemes in South Asia.

Most providers of health microinsurance (HMI) can do more to understand the illness and claims patterns of insured clients. The objective of this study is to demonstrate that analysing claims data equips HMI practitioners with valuable insights to improve the client value and viability of HMI programmes. This brief summarizes a study that performs a comparative analysis of three South Asian HMI programmes – run by VimoSEWA, Uplift Mutuals and Naya Jeevan. These providers share a common geographic region and offer broadly similar insurance for hospitalization services to low-income households.

This report summarises the lessons learned from the Data Impacts project, which explores success stories of the ongoing Data Revolution. The case studies chosen span the themes of health, agriculture and environment, cities, and humanitarian crises, and are drawn from countries all over the world. The cases examine the long and complex pathway from data to impact, focusing on the stages of data generation and collection, methodological development, data analysis, use in the policy process, and project implementation.

This publication describes how the Government of India has extended protection against catastrophic health expenditures to poor and informal workers through Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), a national health insurance scheme whose design and implementation is supported by Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The report provides a detailed description of RSBY including achievements and challenges, a future perspective of RSBY and lessons learned.

This report showcases a selection of mNutrition activities being implemented in the GSMA mHealth programme’s priority countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The report also investigates the best practices which have contributed to the success of these nutrition interventions.

This case study looks at the Grameen Foundation which replicated its “Mobile Midwife” service from Ghana to Nigeria in order to address the high maternal and child mortality rates there. It reviews how “Mobile Midwife” delivers medically sound, stage-based health information to pregnant women and nursing mothers by voice in local languages, providing recommendations for mobile operators.

This collection of case studies was launched together with a framework for systematic South-South transfer of inclusive business models. The case studies summarise the business models, challenges and lessons learned in transferring the business models from India to African countries.

This report analyses the demand for inclusive business in agriculture, healthcare and renewable energy and discusses the challenges and opportunities for transfer of inclusive business models from India to sub-Saharan Africa. The report draws on insights from 11 inclusive businesses and 44 industry practitioners. The preparation of this report and toolkit was led by Ishira Mehta and Pallavi Shrivastava from IFC

This paper examines the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in relation to companies' business activities. It sets out many significant opportunities for all companies to play a role in the achievement of the SDGs.