Addressing Barriers to Private Health Insurance Adoption in Cameroon

Date: Wednesday, July 23rd, 2025
Venue: Zoom, Online
Time: 3:00PM – 4:00PM (GMT+1)

Background

Accessing quality care remain a major challenge in Cameroon, particularly for the underprivileged population. Although the government’s efforts to ensure equitable access to quality health services for the Cameroonian population led to the launch of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) phase 1 in April 2023, the healthcare package offered remains limited. Most Cameroonians are thus still exposed to rising healthcare costs, high out-of-pocket payments and eventually catastrophic health spendings.

Private Health Insurance schemes (PHI) can complement UHC by providing opportunities for coverage for persons who are not benefiting from it. PHI acts as a financial protection mechanism in the event of an unexpected medical condition and presents numerous benefits. In addition to reducing the financial burden of medical costs, PHI enables timely access to adequate care, offers access to more provider choices and better service quality. Despite its role as a potential health insurance service provider, , PHI coverage in Cameroon remains low and  only about 9% of the population is covered by any form of health insurance scheme (1), leading to underutilization of available health services. Our focus on PHIs will be private insurance companies and banks offering health insurance services in Cameroon.

Low insurance coverage in Cameroon is attributed to several factors including high cost of premiums, lack of trust in insurance structures, limited knowledge of insurance functioning and long administrative procedures (2). Addressing these barriers and strengthening private health insurance to be inclusive can lead to improved access to quality healthcare and accelerate progress towards achieving UHC in Cameroon.

Objectives

The objective of this webinar is to explore strategies for increasing the uptake of private health insurance services by addressing key barriers in Cameroon.

More specifically, the webinar aims to:

• Identify and analyze the key barriers to private health insurance uptake among different population groups in Cameroon, focusing on knowledge, affordability, trust, and sociocultural factors.
• To assess the operational challenges faced by private health insurance providers, including regulatory gaps and claims management.
• To examine the role of government, private insurers, and community stakeholders in overcoming these barriers.
• -Suggest possible strategies for addressing these barriers to enhance uptake of these services by the population.

Expected Outputs

The expected outputs are:

• Improved understanding on barriers to insurance adoption in Cameroon.
• Actionable recommendations provided for government, private insurers, and community stakeholders in overcoming these barriers.

Target Audience

This webinar is intended for health insurance providers, healthcare providers, health system strengthening experts, policymakers, government officials, PHI subscribers and the public.

Venue

This webinar will take place on Zoom platform and will be aired on Facebook live.

About the Organizers

• About the Denis And Lenora Foretia Foundation

The Denis & Lenora Foretia Foundation was established to catalyze Africa’s economic transformation by focusing on social entrepreneurship, science and technology, innovation, public health and progressive policies that create economic opportunities for all. The foundation works in partnership with local governments, policy makers, private enterprises, civil society organizations as well as development partners to expand the resources available to entrepreneurs, farmers, and small business owners in addition to improving individual livelihoods.

• About the Nkafu Policy Institute

The Nkafu Policy Institute is an African think tank with a mission to provide independent, in-depth and insightful policy recommendations that allows all Africans to prosper in free, fair, democratic and sustainable economies. The Institute is made up of analysts, experts and researchers from all over the world, working on a wide range of topics, including governance and democracy, health and education, peace and security, science and technology, and economic policy.