Management

Part of the HEFPA projectis, for example, the impactevaluation of the NewCooperative Medical Schemethat has been rolled out inrural China.This scheme has been developed toinsure farmers against catastrophic costsof illness and to provide them better access tomedical care. Within HEFPA, researchers from iBMG,Shandong University and Oxford University are working togetherto design experiments that will allow successful evaluation of bothdemand and supply side interventions that are aimed at improving theprogramme’s impact on access to medical care and financial protection.In 2010, iBMG has also broadened its research-horizon to the Africancontinent, by establishing a partnership with ISS, the Africa StudyCenter, the Ethiopian Economics Association and Addis AbabaUniversity for a NWO funded project on evaluating CBHI in Ethiopia,and by collaborating with the Amsterdam Institute for InternationalDevelopment on evaluating insurance schemes in Kenya.The knowledge base generated by these projects will support policymakers who are facing the challenge of addressing major public healthproblems in the context of large financial and human resourceconstraints.27