MHO's Nigeria

A study(PDF) of Mutual Health Organizations (MHO's) in Nigeria made a number of conclusions, they include interesting features such as the fact "...that they are organised through existing community organisations of all kinds – from local trade unions, to traders and professional associations, church groups including spiritual or charismatic church groups, Muslim groups and traditional birth attendants. Membership..." in some cases is "... gained not directly as an individual but through the local association which offers advantages in terms of social control and prevention of abuse or fraud as well as the chasing up of defaulters. It also means that control is exercised at the lowest possible level...Another feature that is worth noting is the savings nature of the schemes, rather than an insurance mechanism as such. The idea of saving for health is apparently better understood (as an extension of traditional saving concepts such as esusu or ojo), whereas insurance is less well understood, and moreover, requires different and rather scarce skills to manage properly. This particular adaptation not only saves on administrative costs , but also helps avoid fraud, an ever-present danger with insurance schemes everywhere and a big problem in Nigeria.