Nigeria: Pre-paid Health Scheme Pilot

In Nigeria, over 1 million people or 0.8 percent of the population, are covered by health insurance schemes. Many poor people have to pay out-of-pocket for medical care or do without. The National Health Insurance Scheme, introduced in 2004, intended to cover all Nigerians, but many low-income populations are not expected to benefit for many more years. Through this GPOBA project low-income Nigerian families were planned to have access to affordable primary and maternal health care, as well as screening and treatment for HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. The project provided affordable pre-paid health insurance plans for over 13,000 beneficiaries (employees and their families) who belong to the Computer and Allied Products Association (“CAPDAN”) at the Ikeja IT village in Lagos. The services was provided through a network of service providers managed by Hygeia Nigeria Limited, a local private sector health insurance entity.