Bulletin of the World Health Organization

The impact of health insurance in Africa and Asia: a systematic review

Ernst Spaan, Judith Mathijssen, Noor Tromp, Florence McBain, Arthur ten Have & Rob Baltussen

Volume 90, Number 9, September 2012, 685-692

Table 1. Key characteristics of studies included in systematic review of studies on the impact of health insurance in Africa and Asia

Study site	No. of observations	Type of article			Quality (% of observations)				Study design				Year of publication
Study site	No. of observations	Peer-reviewed	Grey		Low	Medium	High		RCT	Quasi-experimental	Observational		1990–1994	1995–1999	2000–2004	2005–2009	2010–2011
Africa (n = 68)
Social health insurance	18	7	11		33	44	22		0	1	17		2	2	4	6	4
Private health insurance	9	6	3		67	11	22		0	0	9		1	1	2	3	2
Community- based health insurance	50	24	26		30	48	22		2	3	45		4	10	17	16	3
Total	77	38^a	30^a		–	–	–		2	4	71		7	13	23	25	9

Asia (n = 91)
Social health insurance	68	48	17		21	59	21		0	12	56		1	9	15	29	6
Private health insurance	1	1	0		0	0	100		0	0	1		0	1	0	0	0
Community-based health insurance	30	22	8		17	60	23		2	4	24		2	4	10	14	2
Total	99	70^a	21^a		–	–	–		2	16	81		3	14	25	49	8

RCT, randomized controlled trial.

^a Some articles refer to more than one study, and the number of articles can therefore be less than the number of studies.