The project will undertake a field study of the existing Community-Based Health Insurance (CBHI) Institutions in and around Mumbai, India. Through this study, the researchers will aim to understand the landscape, practices, organizational structure, operations, governance and the impact CBHIs have in reducing the health protection gap in India.
The paper discusses the decline in tariffs and the increasing use of nontariff measures (NTMs) in countries constituting the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The paper calculates frequency ratios (number of imports subject to NTMs), coverage ratios (Import value subject to NTMs), tariff equivalent (AVEs) of NTMs, and overall protection (protection provided by tariff and AVEs) for the years 1997 to 2015. The analysis shows that the usage of NTMs has increased in recent decades. More than 50 percent of trade in most countries was subject to NTMs as of 2015.
With insurance protection gap among the highest in Asia, Indians are vulnerable to health and economic shocks. While India is a lower middle-income country (LMIC), its spending on healthcare is lesser than lower income countries.
The World Bank recently released “The Global Findex Database 2021: Financial Inclusion, Digital Payments, and Resilience in the Age of Covid-19” which shows that 76 percent of adults globally have access to an account with a bank or a regulated financial institution. The rise in the past decade has been the fastest ever with over a 50 percent jump in the population with access to banking accounts and this was largely possible due to rapid advances in technology and digital infrastructure for financial services.
Following the four successful editions of the International Conference on Islamic Finance (ICIF), the Center for Islamic Economics and Finance (CIEF) at the College of Islamic Studies (CIS), at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), with the support of the Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) Authority, is organizing the fifth ICIF, scheduled to be held on October 09 - 11, 2022 in Doha, Qatar.