IT IS estimated that over one billion people around the world have no health insurance. Health insurance is a very crucial matter that lack of it can undo and sink families deeper into poverty with an estimated one hundred million people falling into that category. As the world celebrates the first ever Universal Health Coverage Day, Rwandans can count themselves lucky for having Mutuelle de Santé, alongside other health insurance schemes. But that should not be reason enough to sit on our laurels, but a wakeup call not to let our guards down. Affordable healthcare can only be possible if there is government will and an active participatory public who fully understand the benefits of a healthy community. That to one extent has been achieved, but as it was reported in this year’s Imihigo report, some districts had started to slip, thereby contributing to their poor showing in the performance contracts. With local communities taking care of the most vulnerable in society, total coverage could have been achieved by now but that is not the case despite the 73 per cent coverage. The stragglers can only catch up if local authorities increased the tempo in their sensitisation campaigns. If possible, they could introduce a system whereby people can even pay their premiums in installments. Otherwise there should be no excuse to find a village where people find it difficult to access healthcare for lack of insurance.
