Government officials and micro-insurance experts discussed how to apply micro-insurance, or low-premium insurance, to Cambodia’s most poor and vulnerable population in an effort to protect people who do not benefit from the country’s manager social safety net. Speaking to participants at a workshop in Phnom Penh, organized by the United Nation Development Program (UNDP), the Council for Agriculture and Rural Development (CARD) and the Ministry of Finance, UNDP Country Director Elena Tischenko said Cambodia is one of many countries considering micro-insurance as a supplement to existing social welfare programs.
“People, especially in developing countries, lack access to appropriate insurance and social protection services that would enable them to cope with risks more effectively,” Ms. Tischenko said. “Micro-insurance stand as an effective tool to deepen and expand social protection in Cambodia.” Micro-insurance, which is available to low-income people who pay premiums to protect against death, health problems, crop failure and livestock degradation, should be part of the government’s National Social Protection Strategy, she added.
Some 7,500 low-income people in Kandal and Takeo provinces currently pay $6 a year for accident and health coverage under a micro-finance partnership between local insurance companies Forte Insurance and the Prasac Microfinance Institution. Youk Chamroeunrith, general manager of Forte Insurance, said that an annual premium of $6 is affordable for low-income people.
But Bou Chanpirou, deputy director of Ministry of Finance’s financial industry department, said that the problem is awareness of insurance, which remains exptremely low inrural areas, w3here 83 percent of people had no access to insurance. Ministry of Finance Secretary of State our Bun Long urged officials first to educate eople on health and life insurance. “If they understand about this insurance, they will understand the rest of the insurance services,” Mr Bun Long said.
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