Micro health insurance is an emerging concept to reduce poverty and social exclusion and improve health care access. The Handbook of Micro Health Insurance in Africa gives an overview of the challenges and needs in the field of micro health insurance. Focusing on Sub-Saharan Africa, where universal social health protection still has a way to go, the Handbook provides an introduction to the relatively new and promising approach of micro insurance as a risk management tool for low-income households, between the market, self-help, and the state. This book is an output of the project Pro MHI Africa, which is funded by the European Union and directed by the University of Cologne in cooperation with the University of Botswana, the University of Ghana, and the University of Malawi. (Series: Social Protection in Health. Challenges, Needs and Solutions in International Health Care Financing - Vol. 1)

Many countries that subscribe to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have committed to ensuring access to basic health services for their citizens. Health insurance has been considered and promoted as the major financing mechanism to improve access to health services, as well to provide financial risk protection. In Africa, several countries have already spent scarce time, money, and effort on health insurance initiatives. Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Tanzania are just a few of them. However, many of these schemes, both public and private, cover only a small proportion of the population, with the poor less likely to be covered. In fact, unless carefully designed to be pro-poor, health insurance can widen inequity as higher income groups are more likely to be insured and use health care services, taking advantage of their insurance coverage. Despite the many benefits that health insurance may offer, table 1.1 shows that the journey to implement insurance and achieve the benefits is challenging, long, and risky. Policy makers and technicians that support development and scale-up of health insurance must figure out how to increase their country''s financing capacity, extend health insurance coverage to the hard-to-reach populations, expand benefits packages, and improve the performance of existing schemes.

The objective of the research project “Development of a training model in the strengthening of microfinance in Uganda” has been the definition and the dissemination of a training model in the field of microfinance in Uganda. The project can be replicated on a national scale and would have the potential to improve the effectiveness of this sector in order to ultimately reduce financial exclusion. The project achieved main results as follows: organization of a specialized course to improve professional capabilities of local experts working in the field of microfinance in Uganda;implementation of the sustainability to be achieved in terms of microfinance projects’ dissemination by helping the new operators to the introduction of new initiatives in remote areas;improvement of the mobility of trained human resources in order to develop develop a comparative approach to microfinance, in particular to the issue of microinsurance;creation of an internet portal, in both Italian and English, to open an interesting communicative window;improvement of the availability of relevant data in order to assess the progress and the impact of microfinance projects;sharing micro-entrepreneurial experiences that can create positive externalities to further expand productive activities;dissemination of best practices that will improve entrepreneurial skills, fostering greater impact on the socio-economic context. The project results have been collected on three publications, whose contributions have been subjected to a scientific evaluation and approval of the scientific direction: The Socio-Economic Impact of Microfinance: the case of “Wekembe”The Uganda Microinsurance Contest

Risk exposure is a major cause of poverty, deprivation and persistent vulnerability worldwide. This volume analyses individuals' and households' responses to a variety of risks, with an emphasis on health risks. The study adapts the Social Risk Management (SRM) conceptual framework and extends it considerably for academic inquiry. Using household data from Ghana and Malawi, empirical evidence is provided on the complex relationship between high risk exposure and the application of proactive and reactive SRM strategies (inc. health insurance), showing their specific contributions to risk management.