International
SMART Aid supports innovative health insurance in Rwanda
Rwanda has made remarkable progress in improving the health of its people since the 1994 genocide. The Rwandan government, in partnership with donors, has scaled-up access to health insurance through local schemes called mutuelles de santé. This community-based health insurance scheme provides coverage for a variety of basic services for a small fee ($1.80 per year). Support from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria is currently subsidising the fee for those families least able to afford it. In 2003, approximately seven per cent of the population was covered by this subsidised insurance scheme; by 2009 the proportion had risen to around 85 per cent. Rwanda has seen significant improvements across a range of health indicators. The Ministry of Health is also providing incentives for health facilities to improve the care provided. As a result, the likelihood that women will give birth in a health facility has increased by more than twenty per cent. This incentivised system played a role in bringing AIDS treatment to more than 70 per cent of those who needed it by 2007, compared with just one per cent in 2003.
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