Leaders, stakeholders, and partners from Namibia’s private health funding sector convened at the Avani Hotel & Casino for a landmark Namibia Association of Medical Aid Funds (Namaf) Stakeholder Roundtable, focused on strengthening collaboration, transparency, and sustainability within the industry.
Hosted under the theme “Rebuilding Trust through Collaboration and Transparency,” the roundtable brought together funders, healthcare provider associations, regulators, and policymakers to reflect on challenges, share perspectives, and identify practical, solution-focused interventions to safeguard the industry’s long-term sustainability.
The discussions highlighted the interconnected nature of the sector’s most pressing challenges, including benchmark tariffs and cost transparency, fraud, waste and abuse, peer accountability, and the oversupply and quality of healthcare providers. Participants agreed that sustainable growth and public trust cannot be achieved in isolation they require coordinated efforts, shared standards, and mutual accountability.
In her closing remarks, Vice President Ms. Rachel Kalipi noted:
“While our perspectives may differ, our challenges are deeply interconnected. Sustainability and trust cannot be achieved in silos they require coordination, shared standards, and a willingness to hold ourselves and one another accountable.”
The roundtable emphasized a pragmatic approach: building on existing frameworks, refining governance, improving transparency, and aligning incentives so that quality care, ethical practice, and financial sustainability reinforce one another. The outcome was a set of priorities for 2026 and the establishment of joint task teams to turn dialogue into action.
Key themes and commitments emerging from the roundtable included:
- Collaborative Innovation: Strengthening partnerships across funders, providers, and regulators to streamline processes and reduce inefficiencies.
- Evidence-Based Interventions: Leveraging data and analytics to inform sustainable, outcomes-driven strategies.
- Transparency and Accountability: Enhancing governance, peer oversight, and member trust through open, standardized practices.
- Patient-Centered Sustainability: Ensuring that reforms deliver value to members while supporting the sector’s long-term viability.
The roundtable comes at a critical moment for Namibia’s health system, following the commissioning of a National Task Force on Health in December 2025, emphasizing public-private collaboration as a national priority. Private health funding organisations acknowledged their responsibility to lead by example and to demonstrate that meaningful collaboration is both possible and essential.
“This is not the end of a conversation,” said Ms. Kalipi. “It is the continuation of a more mature, transparent, and collaborative way of working together. If we sustain this spirit of engagement, we can build a private health funding industry that is resilient, credible, and worthy of the trust placed in it by the Namibian public.”
The Management Committee of Namaf confirmed that the outcomes of the roundtable will be documented, communicated, and translated into concrete initiatives, ensuring that the collective insights from the session result in actionable steps toward a sustainable, transparent, and resilient private health funding ecosystem.