Project on benefit delivery

The Social Security Department has been assisting the Government of Ghana since 2002 in its policy of extension of health care coverage to the informal sector, as well as in the implementation of the new National Health Insurance System (which was set up by legislation passed by the Ghanaian Parliament in 2003). A small pre-pilot Global Social Trust project, financed by Dutch resources, was set up in 2002 in Ghana to develop a methodology for the delivery of benefits to the informal sector communities. In line with national policy it set up the mechanisms to identify the poor with community involvement and to provide the most needy with access to health insurance. Over a three-year period the pre-pilot project subsidized the premiums of between 3,000 to 4,000 people. This pre-pilot project has also provided support to the Health Insurance Scheme to set up the required administrative and operational mechanisms in order to ensure sustainability and to serve as a blueprint for the extension to other Health Insurance schemes in Ghana. For more information please see the project report: Improving Social Protection for the Poor: Health Insurance in Ghana, The Ghana Social Trust pre-Pilot Project (pdf 2630 KB).