Country: Low-income countries in Africa, Asia and Latin-America
Client: Dutch Health insurance Platform for the Poor
Activities: Health insurance arrangements have the potential to improve the plight of poor and vulnerable populations in low income countries by reducing out-of-pocket expenses and protecting them against catastrophic health expenditures. Although the implementation of health insurance arrangements in low income countries has increased in the past decades, the evidence base on the effectiveness of these arrangements is still meagre. Our systematic review collects and analyzes the existing evidence on the impact of different types of health insurance arrangements (social, community-based and private). The impact criteria include social inclusion, utilization and quality of care, resource mobilization, community empowerment and financial protection against catastrophic health expenditures. In addition, we aim to identify the relative strengths and weaknesses of the different types of health insurance arrangements in relation to the selected impact criteria.