The International Actuarial Association (IAA) is pleased to announce that it has recently published a paper on the Risk of Ebola which was developed by the Health Committee and included input from the World Health Organization.

The paper has been written in response to the recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa, which has brought the issue of potential pandemics into the global spotlight. A global pandemic could have widespread and serious implications on insurers, and the paper includes high-level advice designed to provide an insight into some of the key factors that need to be considered.

Emile Stipp, Health Committee Chairperson, said, “Actuaries are often asked by boards or audit committees of life and health insurers to comment on the risk of an epidemic or pandemic. The attached paper sets out some of the issues an actuary could consider in evaluating this risk, explained in the context of Ebola. The Health Committee hopes that the discussion of these principles will be of value to actuaries, regardless of what the final impact of Ebola turns out to be.”

To learn more about the work of the IAA on this topic, contact the Secretariat, care of the Health Committee Chairperson.

This paper is available on the website under Publications / Papers.