Sawasdee krab,
My name is Nicolas Durier. I am a physician from France, and have been working in Thailand for over 10 years for different nonprofit organizations. In June 2015, I registered in Thailand Dreamlopments Ltd, a social enterprise, non-profit mission-driven company working on aid and development for most vulnerable communities. We are working to launch the M-FUND, a unique private, low-cost, nonprofit health insurance for migrants in Thailand.
There are over 3 million migrants living in Thailand, 2 million of them unregistered. Most come from Myanmar, and many live along the Thai-Myanmar border. Migrants contribute to build the economy of the country, but their access to health care services is limited. In 2000, the Thai Ministry of Health initiated a government migrant health insurance, but the uptake has always been very low, as it lacks the flexibility that migrants need, and unregistered migrants are not eligible.
In 2015, we conducted research among migrants that identified great interest for a concept of alternative, low-cost and needs-based health insurance. In 2016, we conducted a complete feasibility assessment of setting up this project, with finance experts, migrant communities, health authorities, public and private hospitals, NGOs, and international institutions. All components of the M-FUND have now been designed. All migrants will be able to join the M-FUND through contributions of 100 THB/person/month, giving them access to free health care services where they need, through a network of partner hospitals. We have now the support from the Ministry of Health to start the project and will pilot it this year in Tak province along the Thai-Myanmar border.
Thank you for joining our crowdfunding campaign to support the launch of the M-FUND. This campaign is part of a broader strategy to raise funding through additional grants. Although we need start-up resources, we project that the M-FUND will become self-sustained. The 200,000 THB that we aim to raise through this campaign will allow to make the M-FUND a reality on the ground. We will recruit our core team, conduct information campaigns into migrants’ communities, and start enrolling migrants into the M-FUND and refer them for care when they need.
We are grateful for any support you will be able to provide, and will keep you informed about the progress of the M-FUND implementation.
You can also contribute and inform us if you are connected to migrant communities who need health protection.
You can learn more about Dreamlopments through our website:
http://www.dreamlopments.com
And follow us on social medias:
https://www.facebook.com/dreamlopments/