In cooperation with the World Bank, Christoph Strupat, researcher in programme „Transformation of Economic and Social Systems“ at DIE, examined the effects of nationwide health insurance in Ghana. The authors show that there were not only savings in individual health expenditures, but that health insurance also makes a significant contribution to reducing child labour and thus increase class attendance of children in schools. High medical costs after sickness, child labour and educational poverty are closely linked in many developing countries: Lack of education and health care is one of the main causes of material impoverishment. And without education, poverty is often transmitted from one generation to the next. National insurances enable an additional „social benefit“ over and above the direct insurance benefit and can reduce child labour and prevent the inheritance of poverty. It is therefore worth taking this enormous gain into account when implementing health insurance schemes.
