TMCnet News
Insurance Services for 'Poor' ComingDec 07, 2010 (Tanzania Daily News/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) -- LOW income earners will have access to cheap insurance services that will cover areas of lending, agriculture and health facilities. The 5-year project to be carried by the First Microinsurance Agency Limited (FMiA), a non profit organization will be co-financed by the Bill Gates Foundation and the Aga Khan Agency for Microfinance. According to Mr Wilson Mzava, the FMiA Project Manager, the project will support government efforts to alleviate poverty particularly to rural people. He said farmers who preserve their harvests in warehouses will also be insured in case of damage that may be caused by fire. "FMiA provides additional solutions to savings cover and warehouse receipt cover to members and borrowers of partners organizations from the banks and microfinance institutions," said Mr Mzava at the launch of Afya Njema Brand in Dar es Salaam on Monday. He said the insurance agency had insured all the loans provided by the Tanzania Women Bank (TWB) to make sure that the bank does not incur losses in case of disabilities or death of the borrower. He said by including the poor in the formal economy and providing a range of insurance services, the quality of life and economic security will be enhanced. To begin with, he said the FMiA will involve people who are members of the Savings and Credit Cooperatives Organizations (SACCOS), cooperatives, village savings, loan associations, banks and other forms of microfinance institutions. He said only 3 per cent of Tanzanians have access to insurance products, thus the project in pipeline will definitely increase the number of people into the insurance sector. He said for example, the studies carried out by the FMiA showed that health microinsurance is highly demanded and a necessary product. "Based on the widespread challenges towards access of health insurance services especially by the low income families, it has been established that hospitalizations often destabilizes them as they might have to exhaust their little savings or fall victim of other predatory lending schemes to pay hospital bills," he said. He said the Afya Njema insurance product is geared to empower members and borrowers of partner organisations to safeguard their health and that of their families. |