Developing a Community-Based Health Insurance

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Ghana, a Low-Income Developing Country had a rural population of 43% in 2020 with a ratio of 1:18,257 doctors to patients in rural areas compared to 1:4,099 in urban regions. The OKB Hope Foundation (OKB), was founded by Osei K. Boateng, a Cornell alumnus and recently nominated CNN Hero.  Osei is keen on improving healthcare outcomes in rural areas of Ghana by increasing access to quality healthcare services. In February 2022, OKB launched its first Hope Health Van equipped with medical equipment and supplies, an electronic medical record system, and five healthcare providers to provide healthcare services to persons in low-income communities. Today, the Health van has served over 5,000 individuals in 52 rural communities by providing them with health assessments and medications.

The SMART Challenge

Access to finance alone slows individual ability to seek and access medical services. To address this, OKB is interested in developing a community-based health insurance (CBHI) for rural households in Central Ghana. The desired CBHI product will be a micro health insurance that would enable community members to pool funds that will offset costs for basic healthcare services and cover out-of-pocket costs. Knowing that introducing health insurance can be a complex process consisting of several phases, OKB needs assistance in developing a baseline study that will determine:

• Community members’ perceptions regarding CBHI

• Willingness to participate in a CBHI scheme.

2023-2024 SMART Fellows

Michelle Marie Addae-Kumi

Master of Public Health, College of Veterinary Medicine 

Project: Developing a Community-Based Health Insurance 

Michelle is a trained medical doctor and a second-year graduate student in Public Health with a concentration in Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology. She is interested in health equity, addressing barriers that hinder access and availability of quality healthcare and the factors that drive negative health outcomes of under-served populations. She is committed to leveraging her medical background and the growing public health knowledge she is gaining to achieve these passions. She has experience conducting NIH-funded research in rural communities, collecting primary data and triangulating secondary data. She looks forward to improving her research skills and learning to foster strong cross-sectorial collaborations with the current SMART cohort, experienced professionals, and stakeholders to make an impact on Public Health.

Kristie Chu

Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Labor Relations, College of Industrial and Labor Relations

Project: Developing a Community-Based Health Insurance

Kristie is a senior studying Industrial and Labor Relations with minors in Business and Psychology. She is also a Global Scholar candidate and has worked to make an impact internationally and locally. She participated in the Youth Leaders Fellowship Program conducted by the United Nations and Tzu Chi Foundation to develop a proposal to aid Sustainable Development Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production. She also created lesson plans and taught English to elementary school students in Taiwan. Last summer, she interned in Management Consulting at PwC and has had past professional experience in turnaround and restructuring advisory, marketing, and project management. Kristie hopes to leverage her social impact drive, extensive worldview and expand her experience in the healthcare industry through her project.

 

Sholape Fashemo

Bachelor of Science in Applied Economics and Management, Charles Dyson School of Applied Economics

Project: Developing a Community-Based Health Insurance

Sholape is a senior with a concentration in Finance and a minor in Inequality Studies. She is passionate about the intersection between business and social impact and has pursued this interest in various ways. On campus, she is a founding member of Cornell Enactus, a social entrepreneurship organization. She also previously served on the finance/fundraising committee of Anabel’s Grocery, a student-run grocery store working to solve food insecurity on Cornell’s campus. Last summer, she worked at a venture capital firm where she conducted a research project on the healthcare AI space. Sholape’s experiences have allowed her to develop an entrepreneurial mindset and analytical skills that she hopes to contribute to her SMART team.

Micere Mugweru

Bachelor of Science in Economics and Africana Studies, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Project: Developing a Community-Based Health Insurance

 

Micere is a junior with a double major in Economics and Africana Studies. She is originally from Nairobi, Kenya. Prior to joining Cornell, she attended the African Leadership Academy in South Africa which fostered her passion for Africa and African Economic Development. Last summer, Micere participated in the Nexus Scholar program where she used her quantitative and qualitative skills to analyze democratic backsliding and resilience, focusing on fifteen autocracies as case studies. With her experience in Finance, Economics, and Politics, she aims to contribute toward developing sustainable financial mechanisms in Africa that ultimately improve living standards and push more people above the poverty line.

Rachel Poovathoor

Master of Public Administration and Health Administration, Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy

Project: Developing a Community-Based Health Insurance

Rachel is a second-year dual MHA/MPA student. She is passionate about the intersection of migration and health. She is most inspired by her time living and working at a hospitality home in South Texas, where she coordinated medical care for recently-released migrants from American detention centers. Rachel has conducted health economics research at the Inter American Development Bank, on the topic of maternal and child health in Mesoamerica. Currently, she is project lead on a National Academy of Medicine funded research project run through Weill Cornell Medicine. Rachel serves as a board member of an international education social enterprise which she co-founded with her friends in college. She is well-versed in R and Stata, and fluent in both Spanish and Malayalam.

Project Lead and Faculty Advisors

Dr. Lorraine Francis

Associate Professor of Practice, Department of Public and Ecosystem Health, College of Veterinary Medicine

Lorraine Francis is a public health professional with extensive knowledge of health systems from over twenty years’ experience in several public health areas including epidemiology, surveillance, emergency and outbreak response, laboratory systems, environmental health and research. In her current role as Associate Professor of Practice with the Master in Public Health Program, she brings her interest in Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Environmental Health and Health Systems strengthening given the public health challenges in Small Island Developing States and Developing Countries. Lorraine holds a DrPH, MPH and BSC from the University of the West Indies and a MHA from the University of Trinidad and Tobago. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health.

Field Dates: Jan 9-18, 2024 
Field Location: Accra, Kumasi Ghana