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Date Added to Site: 24th August 2007 |
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Short Summary
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| Title |
SEWA Social Security: Organizing Women Workers for Insurance and Health Services
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| Author |
Chatterjee, M. and Kent Ranson, M. |
| Publication Date |
January 2006 |
| Publisher |
International Labour Office, Geneva |
| Volume |
ILO Social Protection and Inclusion: Experiences and Policy Issues. |
| Series |
pp105-124 |
| Donor |
International Labour Organisation (ILO)
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Short Summary
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In India, inequalities in access to health information, medical facilities and health insurance mean that those on low-incomes are substantially less likely than those on higher incomes to seek medical treatment or go to hospital. In a bid to address this situation, the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA), a labour union for women working in the informal economy, set up a Social Security programme which provides health education, preventative and primary health care services, and health insurance. This paper describes SEWA's experiences in this field. SEWA's health education programme trains low-income women to deliver basic health information and services. Topics covered in the training include HIV/AIDS, immunisation and ante-natal care and services are delivered by the women at health camps or at women's homes. SEWA's health insurance offers policies which women can pay for at Rs 100 or Rs 225 per annum (currently, equivalent to £1.22 and £2.74). In 2005, the scheme successfully recruited 83,500 women members and the paper reports an upward trend in medical seeking behaviour. However, the maximum insurance pay out is often not enough to cover hospitalisation; payments are given retrospectively which means fees have to be settled in advance; and often members lack the necessary information, skills and confidence to make claims on the insurance.
Document file size: 3,196 KB for whole report.
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