Insurance in transition: laying an evidence base for health financing schemes in developing countries on the road to universal coverage

Principal investigators: Pr Rainer Sauerborn and Dr Hengjin Dong

Investigators: Percivil Carrera, Devendra Prasad Gwanali

The overall objective of this research is to identify under what circumstances, and through what mechanisms, meso-level approaches such as Community-based Health Insurance (CHI) can contribute to achieving universal coverage in health care in the context of transition in health financing. Such comprehensive frameworks will then be applied in the case studies of China, India, and Indonesia in Asia and Burkina Faso and Ghana in Africa. These countries represent diverse stages of insurance implementation and shall provide an excellent empirical base for research and South-South policy learning.

A mixed methodology will be applied, relying on both qualitative (standard comparison method) and quantitative (econometric analysis, discrete choice experiments and cost analysis) methods in triangulation to answer the research questions. Policy analysis in the form of systematic reviews will be used to build the evidence-base for the transition from micro-health-insurance to universal coverage.

The collaboration among the partner organisations of scientific repute with closeness to policymakers or stakeholders from both the North and South shall be driven by both the core business and interest of the individual partners and the synergies of interactions given the following research tasks: Econometric analysis, Economic/policy analysis, Discrete choice experiments, Historical analysis, Qualitative research, Health Care Financing, Health Systems Research, Researchers to policy-maker linkage.