Filipinos can now easily access various personal and family insurance plans from SeaInsure Philippines through Igloo Philippines’ AI-powered app, Ignite by Igloo.

The partnership between the two companies brings greater convenience and empowerment to insurance providers and seekers, giving Filipinos wider accessibility to essential insurance plans and supporting financial resilience.The initial products available on the app provide up to  ₱300,000 worth of coverage.

These include the SeaInsure Junior Accident Shield (0 to 17 years old), which covers medical expenses resulting from accidents; the SeaInsure Ladies Accident Shield (18 to 45 years old), which provides general accident coverage, including beauty procedures and pregnancy complications; SeaInsure Personal Accident Shield (18 to 60 years old) that takes care of medical expenses from unfortunate accidents; and SeaInsure Senior Accident Shield (61 to 70 years old) that protects from accidents like slips and bone fractures.

For more information, visit https://seainsure.com.ph/products/personal/protection.

PRUBabies, Pru Life UK’s free insurance coverage against select infectious diseases for newborns, bagged Silver and Bronze Stevie®Awardsfor Community Relations/Public Service Communications and Innovative Achievement in Diversity & Inclusion, respectively.

As a testament to the company’s commitment to driving financial inclusion in the country, Pru Life UK offered 175,000 free vouchers of PRUMedCare – Select Infectious Diseases coverage for newborns from 7 days to 11 months old, helping parents protect their newborns against the cost of getting sick from any of the covered four infectious diseases – Dengue, Typhoid, Measles and Malaria. 

“Daghang salamat Pru Life UK. Dahil sa inyo, nabigyan ng libreng proteksyon ang aking baby,” shares Jeresa Caranoo, mother from Bantayan Island, Cebu who received free insurance for her child. 

Through PRUBabies, parents can receive cash assistance for the diagnosis and death of newborns due to any of the four covered diseases. The Department of Health has warned the public to watch out for the four covered diseases, particularly during summer. 

The life insurer distributed free vouchers across the country through Pru Life UK’s 42,000-strong agency force and the support of local government units, non-government organizations (NGOs) and hospitals – NGO Asia Society for Social Improvement and Sustainable Transformation (ASSIST) for Bantayan Island, Cebu and Parañaque City; The CSR arm of FirstGen Corp. for its host communities in Batangas City; St. Scholastica’s Formation House in Tagaytay City; Philippine Medical Association-Calamba for Dr. Jose P. Rizal District Hospital in Calamba, Laguna; Rotary Club of Mandaluyong-Biyaya for the Grace to Be Born Shelter in Pasig City; Microfinance NGO Tulay sa Pag-unlad Inc. (TSPI) in Makati; Office of Palawan Board Member Anton Alvarez and the Mayor’s Office of Taytay for Taytay, Palawan, Rotary Club of Mandaluyong and Mandaluyong City government for the Mandaluyong City Medical Center, Manila City government for Tondo, Manila, and Barangay Council of Tandang Sora for Barangay Tandang Sora in Quezon City.

A combined financial literacy and climate & health session was also conducted for the families in Palawan, the only province in the Philippines with known malaria cases. 

“PRUBabies is one of the many ways we make life insurance more accessible to more Filipino families, including babies who deserve to be protected from birth. We are grateful to our like-minded partners for their support in reaching out to unserved and underserved communities in far-flung areas. With PRUBabies, we live up to our mission to be the most trusted partners for every life and protectors for every future of Filipino families,” shares Allan Tumbaga, Pru Life UK’s Chief Customer and Marketing Officer. The free coverage vouchers have been distributed in 2023. Filipinos who want to be continuously financially protected with PRUMedCare – Select Infectious Diseases can get it via Pulse app.

Migraine can impact many aspects of a person’s life, but less is known about how feelings of stigma about the disease affect quality of life. For people with migraine, these feelings of stigma were linked to more disability, increased disease burden and reduced quality of life, according to new research published in the online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

“Stigma is common where the disease is not readily apparent to others, and there is indication that it could be especially relevant for those living with migraine,” said study author Robert Evan Shapiro, MD, PhD, of the University of Vermont and Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology. “This stigma may arise when a person with migraine recognizes negative stereotypes about the disease and experiences shame for having the disease, fear of experiencing stigma from others, or other negative emotions.”

For the study, researchers looked at 59,001 people with migraine with an average age of 41. Among all participants, 41% reported experiencing four or more headache days per month on average.

Participants answered 12 questions to assess two types of stigma: whether they felt others viewed migraine being used for secondary gain and whether they felt others were minimizing the burden of migraine. Questions included “How often have you felt that others viewed your migraine as a way to get attention?” “… as something that made things difficult for your co-workers or supervisor?” and “…with a lack of understanding of the pain and other symptoms?”

Researchers found that 32% of the participants experienced migraine-related stigma often or very often.

To assess migraine-related disability, participants reported the number of days they missed or had reduced productivity at work, home or social events over the previous three months. High scores on migraine-related stigma were linked with moderate to severe disability. Three-quarters of those who experienced stigma often or very often had moderate to severe disability, compared to 19% of those who never experienced stigma.

They also took a test assessing migraine-specific quality of life, which looked at the impact of migraine on social and work-related activities over the previous four weeks. Scores ranged from zero to 100 with higher scores meaning higher quality of life. Researchers found that those who experienced the highest rates of migraine-related stigma scored far lower in these tests, with an average score of 35 compared to those who did not experience stigma with an average score of 69.

The results remained the same after researchers adjusted for other factors that could affect disability and quality of life, such as age, employment status, other medical conditions and frequency of migraines.

They also found that the amount of stigma experienced increased with migraine severity. Those with 8-14 headache days or more than 15 monthly headache days were far more likely to report at least one form of stigma with 42% and 48%, respectively, compared to those with less than four monthly headache days with 26%.

“The social context of migraine may have a greater impact on quality of life than the number of monthly headache days,” said Shapiro. “However, it is possible that connecting with others with migraine may help decrease migraine-related stigma and stereotypes. More studies are needed to explore the mechanisms that link stigma to health outcomes.”

A limitation of the study was that participants self-reported their migraines, based on a questionnaire or a diagnosis from a health care provider, and they may not have remembered all the information accurately.