Vitality Health International partners Leadway Health to boost wellness in Nigeria

* Majority of the working population in Nigeria is millennials, poised for healthcare specifically aligned with wellness;

* Game-changing behavioural science programme alongside health insurance product rewards people for healthy living;

* Health Insurance product for employers in Nigeria strongly endorses the Memorandum of Understanding signed in November 2022 between SA and Nigeria, which focuses on developing and strengthening the traditional relations of mutually advantageous cooperation between the two countries and their peoples.

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Vitality Health International, an innovative health insurer from South Africa, today boosted its ground-breaking insurance product offering specifically customised for Nigeria’s leading employers. The health insurance offering is unique because it focuses on wellbeing, aimed at positively impacting people’s health outcomes while improving and protecting their lives.

Vitality Health International is owned by multi-award winning South African insurer, Discovery, which changed the insurance landscape with their Vitality Shared-value Insurance model that rewards people for healthy living. Today, Discovery has a global presence, operating in 40 markets (including the USA, UK and China), impacting the lives of more than 40 million people worldwide. Since its launch in January 2022, Vitality Health International has been gaining impetus in bringing health insurance that rewards healthy living to employer groups in the rest of Africa. Vitality Health International is live in five African markets, including the DRC, Mozambique, Kenya, Nigeria and Zambia.

A partnership with in-market insurance partner Leadway Health to improve the quality of lives
Leadway Health, a subsidiary of Leadway Holdings and sister company of Leadway Assurance company limited, is Vitality Health International’s in-country insurance partner. The company uses experience gleaned from its leading presence in West Africa with over 50 years of insurance experience in Nigeria, which customers have come to know and trust.

Leadway helps to provide deep in-market intelligence so Vitality Health International can provide the Health Insurance and wellness offering which the Nigerian population needs. By using quality health insurance offerings and technology, Leadway Health aims to achieve universal and quality health coverall for all Nigerians. Together, Vitality Health International and Leadway Health are committed to improving the quality of lives of the African people – making the partnership mutually beneficial for both entities.

Dr Tokunbo Alli, CEO of Leadway Health, says: “With our unique use of technology to provide ground-breaking health insurance, we are able to provide our customers with a better, smarter and more rewarding experience. Through this partnership with Vitality Health International, we want to play an important role in the efforts towards universal health care (UHC) in Nigeria. Our goal is to help improve the provision of care and the quality of life for Vitality Health International members and their families, in order to accelerate the achievement of our collective vision.”

Vitality Health International’s key differentiator

Vitality is a globally recognised programme which rewards people for engaging in healthy behaviours. Members are encouraged to ‘know their health’, take steps to improve their health and get rewarded for meeting their goals.
Discovery’s Shared-value model is centred on Vitality, a science-based behaviour-change programme that has been proven through independent research to positively impact health outcomes. The Vitality programme is embedded in the Vitality Health International health insurance model. This dynamic behaviour-change programme combines data analytics with rewards and incentives to encourage people to make healthier choices. The Shared-value approach enables employees, employers and Vitality Health International to share in the value and benefits of healthy behaviour by lowering healthcare costs for employers and employees, while decreasing the claims risks for Vitality Health International.

Employers are rewarded with a cashback of up to 10% for encouraging their employees to get healthy and the Vitality Health Fund that can be unlocked when members complete their Vitality Health Review extends the employees’ outpatient benefits by up to $100, based on completion of Vitality health assessments and positive engagement with the Vitality programme.

By engaging in healthy behaviours, employees can earn exciting weekly rewards with Vitality Health International’s rewards partners Jumia and Uber, as well as from leading mobile network in Nigeria, MTN, where vouchers can be redeemed for achieving their goals. Alternatively, employees can choose to donate towards a life-changing vaccine.

By completing their weekly goals members close their ‘fuel bar’ and successfully earn rewards. They can choose to redeem vouchers from MTN or other alternative partners such as Uber and Jumia, through the Vitality Africa app.

Emma Knox, CEO of Vitality Health International says: “Vitality Health International has a core purpose running through everything we do: To make people healthier and to enhance and protect their lives. The foundation of the Vitality Shared-value model is to reward people for healthier behaviours, which also improves their physical and mental well-being, while improving productivity and decreasing the employer’s insurance or ‘health risk’. Through this model Vitality Health International is contributing towards a healthier society by making businesses and their employees healthier.”

All members of Vitality Health Insurance are offered an on-site wellness experience, fully funded by the health insurance product. Vitality Health Checks, conducted by experienced and healthcare wellness specialists, are an essential aspect of the Vitality programme enabling an individual to better understand their health and how to improve it. risks.

Knox says: “As a data-driven organisation, Discovery tracks data worldwide, and in South Africa, a recent study shows that that very engaged members on Vitality who have achieved Diamond and Gold status on the rewards programme, are estimated to have reduced mortality risk as a result of healthier lifestyles, increasing their life expectancy to 87 years’ old, compared to 67 for the insured population in South Africa.”

After each wellness day, comprehensive reports with metrics and unique insights are shared with employers (data anonymised) to help them improve health outcomes for their employees. Knox adds: “The wellness days that we have conducted in other African markets have been extremely impactful in helping employees understand their health.”

Benefit plans extend from in-country to abroad
Tailored to the unique needs of each market it operates in, Vitality Health International offers a comprehensive range of benefit plans including In-country, Africa Roaming and Worldwide (excluding USA) coverage, structured according to each employer’s area coverage needs and budget. While the health insurance offering caters for employers looking for in-country benefit plans to cover staff 100% in Nigeria, it is also particularly attractive to new-generation expatriates (Nigerians returning home after studying abroad) and employees who travel and want to be covered both inside and outside the borders of Nigeria, with access to extensive healthcare provider networks in Nigeria, across Africa, Vitality Health UK.

A comprehensive offering
Vitality Health International offers comprehensive, quality healthcare benefits with a choice of benefit options covering a full spectrum of medical needs, with the Vitality programme included in each benefit option at no additional cost. The Vitality programme is a globally recognised programme that provides the tools and support to improve health and earn rewards.

Partnering with Goodbye Malaria further enhances and protects people’s lives
To honour World Malaria Day on 25 April this year, Vitality Health International, announced a partnership with social benefit organisation, Goodbye Malaria, to reduce the high incidence of malaria, a disease that is still taking an unrelenting toll on human health in Africa.

According to the WHO 2022 Malaria Fact Sheet , malaria is the second biggest cause of death in Nigeria, with 31% of all malaria deaths worldwide occurring in Nigeria.

“Vitality Health International’s health insurance offering is aimed at positively impacting people’s health outcomes while improving and protecting their lives. By partnering with Goodbye Malaria, we are taking a significant step towards achieving this goal. We believe that by working together, we can reduce the negative impact of malaria and save many lives on the continent” says Knox. “Malaria remains the most prevalent disease in Africa with a major impact on the lives and livelihoods of the most vulnerable with $12 billion lost in productivity every year.”

According to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) data, 2022 saw nearly a quarter of a billion cases of malaria worldwide with four African countries, namely Nigeria (26.6%), the Democratic Republic of Congo (12.3%), Uganda (5.1%) and Mozambique (4.1%), accounting for nearly half of all malaria cases globally.

This partnership will have a strategic focus in the fight against malaria with the aim to potentially eradicate this deadly, yet preventable, disease in years to come.

Nigeria is ready for disruption in healthcare insurance
The Vitality Health International healthcare insurance model is highly relevant for Nigeria, a nation which is demanding a better quality of healthcare, with a working population comprising mostly of millennials, who are happy to engage on more digitally enabled healthcare platforms and offerings. Some additional key factors which also highlight that Nigerians are ready to embrace the Health insurance offering from Vitality Health International include:
• According to Hope Alive Healthcare: Nigeria, Nigerians travel to other countries for better healthcare services
o 75% of medical tourism spending in Nigeria is funded out of pocket
o A PWC report entitled “Restoring trust to Nigeria’s healthcare system 2016”, 60% of medical tourism spending in Nigeria is focused on four key medical conditions:
 Oncology
 Orthopedics
 Nephrology and
 Cardiology

• A recent report from the WHO into the prevalence of insufficient physical activity among adults revealed that 27% – more than a quarter – of Nigerian adults are physically inactive.

“Added to the high levels of inactivity in Nigeria, World Health Organisation estimates that one in every four Nigerians has mental illness,” says Knox.
Recognising the challenges in mental health in Nigeria, Vitality has proactively developed a Healthy Mind initiative that encourages its members to know their mental health status, improve their mental health and get rewarded for it.

Commenting on these concerning healthcare issues during the presentations in Lagos, Nigeria, Knox said: “We are bringing a completely new type of health insurance to the rest of Africa. One that focuses on mental and physical wellness. Our offering has been specifically developed for the African market. It is an innovative, digitally enabled solution that promotes preventive screening and offers incentivised healthy behaviours through our exciting new cross-continental rewards partners. All three emerging trends offer a unique opportunity for Vitality Health International to make a significant impact in Nigeria

Additionally, to help get more Nigerians active, all Vitality Health International members qualify for a 40% discount on a Garmin watch, which tracks physical activity and rewards members who exercise regularly.

At the heart of Vitality Health International
“Our health insurance model, with the Vitality programme at its core, is highly relevant in the context of the changing landscape. Vitality Health International’s unique healthcare solutions that reward healthy living can assist employer groups to manage employee health for the best business and individual outcomes. The Shared-value model also brings down the insurance risk and improves performance as an insurer. At the same time, Vitality Health International is contributing towards a healthier society over time,” Knox concludes.