To Enrol or not to Enrol in Community Health Insurance

Community health insurance (CHI) has recently been valued as a promising health financing alternative for low and middle income countries. Field experience, however, demonstrates that CHI does not live up to its expectations, mainly because of the widespread problem of low enrolment, meaning that too few people choose to join emerging CHI schemes. This book presents a scientific investigation into the decision to enrol in CHI in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Specifically, through the joint application of quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis, the study explores the experience of one emerging scheme in Burkina Faso. On this basis, specific recommendations for future research and a series of detailed policy guidelines are proposed to inform and reform the implementation of CHI in Burkina Faso as well as elsewhere in SSA.

The Author: Manuela De Allegri holds an undergraduate degree in Sociology from Bryn Mawr College in the United States (1999), a Master of Science in Health Care Management, Economics, and Policy from Bocconi University in Italy (2002), and completed her doctorate in Public Health/Health Economics at the University of Heidelberg (2006). She currently works as a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Tropical Hygiene and Public Health of the University of Heidelberg. Her primary research interests focus on health financing, malaria control, and HIV/AIDS.

Contents: A scientific investigation into the decision to enrol in community health insurance (CHI) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) - Recommendations for future research - A series of policy guidelines to inform and reform the implementation of CHI in SSA.