Date: Friday, December 5^th 2025
Time: 3:00pm – 4:00pm (GMT+1)
Venue: Zoom, Online (Register now)

Background

Financial constraints remain a major obstacle to accessing timely and quality healthcare in Cameroon, where four in ten citizens live below the national poverty line (1). These barriers often force individuals to delay or forgo treatment, compounding the effects of already limited and uneven access to healthcare services. As a result, families with limited income fall deeper into poverty, while health disparities widen and outcomes deteriorate for the most vulnerable groups, especially in rural communities. Private health insurance (PHIs) offers a complementary pathway to improve access to quality healthcare by protecting individuals from financial hardship. However, uptake of health insurance over the years has remained significantly low, with less than 10%  (2) of the population covered by any form of health insurance scheme. In Cameroon, low insurance coverage is attributed to several issues, including high premium costs, lack of trust in insurance companies, and persistent problems with service delivery, such as drawn-out administrative processes, erratic customer service, and slow claims resolution. These obstacles erode consumer trust and directly influence their satisfaction in the schemes offered. In addition, the quality of services offered by health facilities to insured patients can greatly impact the reputation of health insurance companies as well as its acceptance by the population. Poor customer experiences perpetuate a negative perception of the service and reduce the willingness of community members to purchase PHI.

PHI has the potential to expand access to quality care in Cameroon, but only if service delivery is equitable, transparent, and responsive to community needs. Effectively enhancing the quality of service delivery is thus essential to significantly improve acceptance of PHI in the country, demystifying negative experiences and increasing utilization rates. This webinar aims to explore strategies for enhancing the quality of services delivered by private health insurance providers in Cameroon, with the goal of increasing community uptake.

Objectives

• To identify and discuss the state of health service delivery by insurance companies and health facilities. To identify and discuss the operational challenges faced by private health insurance providers, including regulatory gaps and claims management.
• To discuss the causes of poor quality service delivery within health facilities.
• To explore innovative strategies and best practices for improving service delivery standards among PHI providers to enhance client satisfaction and retention.

Expected Outputs

The expected outputs are:

• A deeper understanding of the challenges and barriers to quality service delivery in PHIs.
• Improved awareness of service quality as an important factor in PHI uptake.
• Insights into practical strategies and innovations to enhance the quality of care in private health institutions.
• Actionable recommendations provided for government, private insurers, and community stakeholders in overcoming these barriers.
• A Policy brief summarizing insights and recommendations.

Target Audience

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

Venue

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