Scaling Up Maternal and Child Care through Community-Based Health Insurance and Quality Improvement Mechanisms in Rural Nigeria Kwara State

scaling the Kwara State Health Insurance Program to cover 600,000 low-income people within the next five years. Maternal and child health is a key focus of the program.

The Kwara State Government, Hygeia Community Health Care, the Health Insurance Fund, PharmAccess and public and private healthcare providers have been working on this program with local communities and traditional leaders in Kwara State since 2007.

This public-private partnership, which has been described as ground-breaking and innovative by the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, promotes integrated, complementary initiatives that increase resources, efficiency and effectiveness within the healthcare system.

Through quality improvement, investments, loans for healthcare providers, and health insurance, the demand for and supply of health care is stimulated.

The stepwise quality improvement program emphasizes the importance of maternal and child care, including antenatal, delivery, and postnatal care, and enables healthcare providers to improve healthcare services.

The introduction of health insurance makes health care affordable to low-income families and leads to increased utilization of maternal and childcare services.

The income received by healthcare providers through the insurance premium and the provision of affordable loans enables them to invest in healthcare quality and business potential.Saving Lives at Births transition-to-scale grant, combined with the existing investments, will contribute to more financing and healthcare delivery for people in Kwara State.