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This research focuses on current photojournalism practices in the media representation of the climate crisis, exploring how images published by Spain’s leading digital newspapers contribute to shaping public perception of the phenomenon. Through a mixed-methods approach, this study examines eco-visual reporting in 2023—a year characterized by unprecedented global temperatures—alongside an examination of the initial month of coverage of the 2024 DANA floods. The main objective of this study is to evaluate whether the visual depiction of climate change in mainstream media aligns with or deviates from the established visual patterns associated with stereotyped iconography and alarmist narratives. This research provides a taxonomy of the predominant thematic elements and their frequency, addressing key issues such as the persistence of worn-out visual tropes, the reliance on stock images, and the episodic nature of its news treatment. The inclusion of the most catastrophic climate disaster of the 21st century in Spain allows for an exploration of how the media pressure inherent to crisis situations intensifies the risk of errors in image attribution and contextualization. Finally, we offer practical recommendations to guide visual coverage toward comprehensive, accurate, and human-centered approaches, aiming to foster public trust and maximize the potential of photojournalism as a key tool in collective mobilization against the climate emergency.

This report addresses the large flood exposures of Central Europe and proposes efficient financial and risk transfer mechanisms to mitigate fiscal losses from natural catastrophes. In particular, the Visegrad countries (V-4) of Central Europe, namely, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and the Slovak Republic, have such tremendous potential flood damages that reliance on budgetary appropriations or even European Union (EU) funds in such circumstances becomes ineffective and does not provide needed cash funds for the quick response and recovery needed to minimize economic disruptions. The report is primarily addressed to the governments of the region, which should build into their fiscal planning the necessary contingent funding mechanisms, based on their exposures. The report is addressed to finance ministries and also to the insurance and securities regulators and the private insurance and capital markets, which may all play a role in the proposed mechanisms. An arrangement using a multi-country pool with a hazard-triggered insurance payout mechanism complemented by contingent financing is proposed, to better manage these risks and avoid major fiscal volatility and disruption.

The private health sector was officially recognized in the Republic of Congo over 20 years ago June 6, 1988, establishing the conditions for the independent practice of medicine and the medical-related and pharmaceutical professions. The Congolese government recently expressed its commitment to working with the private health sector in order to strengthen the health system, improve the health of the population and preserve the basic human right to a healthy life through the National Health Care Policy, which it adopted in 2003, the 2007-2011 National Health Development Plan and the 2010 Health Care Services Development Program. Throughout these various documents there is an acknowledgement that the lack of coordination with the private health sector is a weakness of the health system. Nevertheless, the scarcity of information about the private sector in policy and planning documents suggests that the government's engagement with the private health sector is limited. There is no official government policy on the private health sector, or strategies or working plans to encourage cooperation between the public and private sectors. The objective of this assessment was to better determine the role, position, and importance of the private sector within the health system, in order to identify the limitations to its development as well as ways it can be integrated into the efforts to meet the objectives of the Plan national de developpement sanitaire (PNDS) [National Health Development Plan]. The World Bank Group contracted with the Results for Development Institute (R4D, United States) and Health Research for Action (HERA, Belgium) as well as with a team of local consultants, to conduct a 'study of the private health sector in the Republic of Congo.' This study was conducted in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Population (MSP), which arranged and oversaw a steering committee consisting of actors from the public and private sectors to facilitate and guide the study. The goal of the study and the workshops was a concrete plan of action for the health sector that could be used by the Congolese government, the private sector in the Republic of Congo, and international development partners. Certain aspects of the action plan should be included in the work programs of the Programme de developpement des services de sante (PDSS) [Health System Development Project] for the years 2011-2013.

The persistent potential for large scale natural disasters has become a real concern for the Turkish government since the late 1990s, which ultimately led to the establishment of the Turkish Catastrophe Insurance Pool (TCIP). Among the main rationale of the creation of the TCIP were a grave government fiscal exposure to natural disasters and a disproportionately low level of catastrophe insurance penetration for such a disaster-prone country. Since the commencement of this program in 2000, the TCIP has provided coverage to more than 2 million households, being by far the largest insurance program in the country. In four years, the TCIP has managed to become one of the most trusted brand names in the Turkish insurance industry, and one of the largest catastrophe insurance pools in the world. Its success has also brought an international recognition, inspiring more than a dozen of countries world wide. The TCIP experience has also been a watershed for the World Bank as it has led to a rethinking of the roles of ex ante risk management relative to ex post donor support. This book presents the main technical imperatives and challenges in the development and the implementation of the TCIP and shows how a public-private partnership may be the way forward in the financing of natural disasters. If offers valuable advise and guidelines to policymakers involved in the development of catastrophe insurance programs.

The COVID-19 epidemic has seriously affected global economic and social development. The extent to which insurance can play a role in preventing and transferring the risk of infectious diseases has become one of the major concerns of the community. This paper first analyzes the main contents of the U.S. Pandemic Risk Insurance Act during the COVID-19 epidemic and its insights to the global audiences. Then, on the basis of the definition of global pandemic, this paper analyzes the great challenges faced by the insurability of the infectious diseases’ catastrophe from the regional impact, risk accumulation, correlation with capital markets, and accuracy of catastrophe model, and the insurability of local infectious diseases. Finally, this paper presents the key points of the top-level design of the risk transfer mechanism of infectious disease insurance in China. This paper is informative in understanding the role of insurance in the risk transfer of infectious diseases.

Nearly a billion people worldwide risk Financial Catastrophe (FC) due to Out-of-Pocket (OOP) health expenditures. With Low-and-Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) disproportionately impacted, and the global burden of colorectal cancer (CRC) expected to increase 60 ​% by 2030, Nigeria is of interest. This study aims to evaluate the cost of treating CRC at Nigeria's first private cancer center. The center's cancer registry was queried for CRC diagnosed between 2013 and 2023. Two research assistants in Lagos abstracted treatment costs (adjusted to 2023 USD), demographics and clinical characteristics. FC was defined as OOP >20 ​% of Nigeria's 2023 per-capita GDP ($467). 92 patients (colon (n ​= ​70), rectum (n ​= ​22), 66 ​% stage 4) were included. Average chemotherapy cost $7,678, procedure cost $1157. Average total cost for multi-therapy, $34,983. All treated patients risked FC. The greatest cost-contributors were chemotherapy (30 ​%) and other drugs (21 ​%). Procedures cost 3 ​%. CRC treatment increases the risk of FC for nearly all patients. Risk-protection through insurance or financial navigation may be of benefit, and future studies should investigate the impact of these interventions on FC risk. •Colorectal cancer care puts most Nigerian patients at risk for financial catastrophe.•High cost may preclude patients from receiving necessary cancer care.•Measures that mitigate the risk of financial catastrophe in Nigerian CRC patients require further investigation.

The economic consequences of drought episodes are increasingly important although they are often difficult to apprehend, in part because of the complexity of the underlying mechanisms. In this article we will study one of the consequences of drought, namely the risk of subsidence (or more specifically clay-shrinkage-induced subsidence), for which insurance has been mandatory in France for several decades. Using data obtained from several insurers, representing about a quarter of the household insurance market over the past 20 years, we propose some statistical models to predict not only the frequency but also the intensity of these droughts for insurers. But even if we use more advanced models than standard regression-type models (here random forests to capture non-linearity and cross effects) and all geophysical and climatic information is available, it is still difficult to predict the economic cost of subsidence claims.

'Catastrophe Risk Financing in Developing Countries' provides a detailed analysis of the imperfections and inefficiencies that impede the emergence of competitive catastrophe risk markets in developing countries. The book demonstrates how donors and international financial institutions can assist governments in middle- and low-income countries in promoting effective and affordable catastrophe risk financing solutions. The authors present guiding principles on how and when governments, with assistance from donors and international financial institutions, should intervene in catastrophe insurance markets. They also identify key activities to be undertaken by donors and institutions that would allow middle- and low-income countries to develop competitive and cost-effective catastrophe risk financing strategies at both the macro (government) and micro (household) levels. These principles and activities are expected to inform good practices and ensure desirable results in catastrophe insurance projects. 'Catastrophe Risk Financing in Developing Countries' offers valuable advice and guidelines to policy makers and insurance practitioners involved in the development of catastrophe insurance programs in developing countries.

A company with $n$ geographically widely dispersed sites seeks insurance that pays off if $m$ out of the $n$ sites experience rarely occurring catastrophes (e.g., earthquakes) during a year. This study describes an adaptive dynamic strategy that enables an insurance company to offer the policy with smaller loss probability than more conventional static policies induce, but at a comparable or lower premium. The strategy accomplishes this by periodically purchasing reinsurance on individual sites. Exploiting rarity, the policy induces zero loss with probability one if no more than one quake occurs during any review interval. The policy also may induce a profit if $m$ or more quakes occur in an interval if no quakes have occurred in previous intervals. The study also examines the benefit of more than one reinsurance policy per active site. The study relies on expected utility to determine indifference premiums and derives an upper bound on loss probability independent of premium.

This systematic literature review (SLR) explores the role of community-based catastrophe insurance (CBCI) as a tool for sustainable economic loss risk mitigation. Utilizing bibliometric analysis and a literature review, this study aims to reveal the methods employed in CBCI schemes from a novel perspective, highlighting their effectiveness in mitigating catastrophe risks. The PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) methodology was employed to systematically collect and analyze articles sourced from the Scopus, ScienceDirect, and Dimensions databases. The findings provide a comprehensive summary of the CBCI implementation, including various considerations such as risk-sharing mechanisms, premium determination, and policy frameworks. This research offers a fresh perspective on CBCI as a sustainable approach to catastrophe risk mitigation, contributing valuable insights to policymakers, practitioners, and researchers interested in community resilience and disaster risk management.