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L’assurance volontaire chez les travailleurs précaires à l’ère de la couverture maladie universelle au Sénégal

Abstract

Since the early 2000s, voluntary insurance has emerged as a response to the weaknesses of social protection systems in sub-Saharan Africa. Senegal is following this logic through the implementation of the universal health coverage (UHC) program. However, despite the efforts of policymakers, the levels of adherence of the targeted populations remain low. Research that reflects this phenomenon has a growing interest in the informal sector. However, this sector is not representative of the different categories of workers excluded from the legal system of social protection. That is the reason why this article focuses on precarious workers in the public and parapublic sectors. From a qualitative analysis, we show that the reasons that slow down their membership are essentially related to their professional status. This puts into question the universalist dimension of UHC, which seems difficult to reconcile with unstable employment conditions.