Managing Director of PharmAccess Onno Schellekens e.a. published an article in the November/December issue of Health Affairs, a leading journal of health policy thought and research. The publication discusses the results of the Okambilimbili project in Namibia, which PharmAccess initiated in 2004 and ran until 2009. The project aimed to facilitate access to basic health care and HIV/AIDS treatment for more people in Namibia, by establishing a network of public-private partnerships. Okambilimbili served as a pilot project, introducing the concept of risk equalization and solidarity.

Innovation In Namibia:
Preserving Private Health Insurance And HIV/AIDS Treatment

Onno P. Schellekens, Ingrid de Beer, Marianne E. Lindner, Michele van Vugt, Peter Schellekens and Tobias F. Rinke de Wit
Health Affairs, Volume 28, Number 6 (November/December 2009), p.1799-1806

Abstract
Namibia, a lower-middle-income country in sub-Saharan Africa, suffers from a huge HIV/AIDS burden. An influx of donor funding in 2004–2007 increased support for publicly provided HIV care and treatment. This raised concern that private funding would be "crowded out," thereby leading to a reduction in the overall resources used to treat patients.

In 2006 the Namibian medical aid industry, with donor support, created a special fund to subsidize private health insurance, including HIV/AIDS services. The program allowed both low- and higher-income people to be covered. Crowding out valuable private resources was avoided and the quality of HIV/AIDS services improved.

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