Following a preliminary two-day workshop with Indian partners, the first major meeting of the international EC-funded research-cum-implementation  consortium on Developing Efficient and Responsive CBHI in India took place in Delhi from the 20th to the 23rd of October 2009 and represented the first important step of this ambitious and unprecedented global collaboration.

The Advisory Board is composed of world-class experts in the fields of healthcare, microinsurance and development and was represented at the meeting by Prof. Rainer Sauerborn, Prof Ruth Koren, Prof. Jacky Mathonnat, Dr. Michael Kent Ranson and Dr. Hengjin Dong.  The Advisory Board members met for two days, followed by two days of discussion and planning by the the consortium's Steering Committee, counting as its members the Micro Insurance Academy staff and representatives from the two partner European universities (Erasmus University Rotterdam and University of Cologne) and the three local partner NGOs (Shramik Bharti, Nidan and BAIF). The full week of work offered a unique occasion to both internationally renowned academics, MIA's Directors and Researchers and implementation partners with invaluable knowledge of the local context to discuss, frame and plan all aspects of the project for the months ahead.

Specific topics of discussion included in-depth analysis of the research topic with  recommendation to refine the research focus.  In addition, qualitative, quantitative, and spatial analysis tools were evaluated with an eye to their implementation implications.  A full timeline for the implementation was also defined and agreed upon during the meetings.

At this early stage, the project will see local partners initiate the roll out of three new showcase Micro Health Insurance units (MIUs) in the northern Indian states of Bihar (Vaishali district) and Uttar Pradesh (Kanpur Dehat and Pratapgarh districts). In this multi-site coordinated effort, the unprecedented parallel collection of data will allow first-in-its-kind scientifically rigorous monitoring and evaluation of the impact of Micro Health Insurance on communities and local healthcare systems.