The United Nations Development Programme’s Insurance and Risk Finance Facility (UNDPsIRFF) has expressed concerns over Ghana’s neglect of inclusive non-life insurance solutions, despite strides made in health and life insurance.
According to the UNDPsIRFF, while the poor and vulnerable have some access to health and life insurance products, non-life-inclusive insurance solutions remain largely inaccessible.
These sentiments were shared during the Non-Life Actuarial Capacity Development (NACDev) programme for health insurance companies, organized by the UNDPsIRFF in partnership with the Actuarial Society of Ghana and the Private Health Insurers Association Ghana (PHIA-G) as part of the UNDP-Milliman-Global Actuarial Initiative (GAIN).
Speaking at the event in Accra, Dr. Amina Sammo, Coordinator of the Insurance and Risk Finance Facility (IRFF) at the UNDP, highlighted the urgent need for actuarial functions within Ghana’s non-life insurance sector.
She commended private insurers for supporting the GAIN programme, which seeks to establish actuarial units in their respective organisations to strengthen the industry.
Dr. Sammo explained that since 2022, when the UNDP started implementing the GAIN programme with service providers, significant progress has been made in building actuarial capacity.
She emphasized UNDPsIRFF’s pro-government stance in correcting industry inefficiencies and enhancing the gains of service providers.
On his part, Mr. Mark Larbi Henaku, CEO of the Actuarial Society of Ghana (ASG), outlined the society’s three-fold mandate: educating, training, and regulating.
He noted that the ASG, in collaboration with Milliman-GAIN, have trained National Service personnel with strong backgrounds in actuarial, statistics and mathematics to manage actuarial desks for service providers.
Mr. Henaku urged service providers to establish actuarial units to comply with actuarial regulations to help strengthen the industry’s foundation.
A representative from the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) praised the UNDPsIRFF and ASG for their efforts, drawing parallels with South Africa’s robust actuarial sector and expressing optimism about Ghana’s growing capacity in the actuarialspace.
The PHIA-G pledged its support and participationto the ASG, committing to better understanding the training manuals and programmes to enhance collaboration and compliance.
