The long-standing need for universal health coverage (UHC) in India has been brought into sharp focus by the pandemic. The mission of this Research Topic is to publish a series of articles from diverse disciplinary perspectives which can inform the pathway towards realizing UHC in India. A guiding principle for this issue is that structural change towards UHC can only be attained through consultative and participatory engagement with the diverse sectors involved in health care and, most importantly, with India’s citizenry, in terms of their priority to healthcare and how the health system responds to their needs. While acknowledging the importance of social determinants in health care, this Research Topic focusses on:
1) the present architecture of India’s health care system; identify the gaps and challenges and ways to bridge its fragmented financing, administering and delivery.
2) the political economy of health and its implications for the prioritisation of health.
3) Identify the key elements that will contribute to a comprehensive health service system that includes public, for profit and non profit sectors - financing, provisioning, administration
4) The challenges faced by targeted public insurance schemes in a mixed provisioning scenario - with a largely unregulated private sector.
5) The moral hazards facing an insurance-led approach for universal health coverage.
6) Realizing universal health coverage by identifying multiple axes of inequities (inter-state; gender, age; religion, caste and class) and pathways to address these by drawing on state level and civil society experiences.
7) The need for economic and financial analyses related to UHC.
We particularly welcome articles which can address key questions facing India’s policy makers, including: negotiating the intersections and complementarities between public and private health provision and the design of a regulatory structure that holds each component of the health system accountable; evidence of evaluation of policies relating to UHC; raising of competency and quality based human resources for UHC; addressing the role of traditional systems of medicine; negotiating the federal dimensions and associated heterogeneity of health systems’ capacity across India’s states to articulate the distinctive roles and responsibilities of the central, state, and local government in delivering and regulating health care; and building health system capacity for enabling and regulating the use of technology in a way that supports and strengthens health delivery while protecting citizens’ rights. There are inherent tensions across these domains that need careful negotiation. The Research Topic will seek to unpack these tensions to identify the core principles of a health system that is inclusive, equitable, and accountable for the provision of quality health care.
Articles can be based on any appropriate research methodology, including syntheses of published evidence, stakeholder consultation (for example with front-line workers or doctors), case studies (for e.g. of programs, states or districts) and surveys. Articles which do not contain any empirical data will not be considered.
The long-standing need for universal health coverage (UHC) in India has been brought into sharp focus by the pandemic. The mission of this Research Topic is to publish a series of articles from diverse disciplinary perspectives which can inform the pathway towards realizing UHC in India. A guiding principle for this issue is that structural change towards UHC can only be attained through consultative and participatory engagement with the diverse sectors involved in health care and, most importantly, with India’s citizenry, in terms of their priority to healthcare and how the health system responds to their needs. While acknowledging the importance of social determinants in health care, this Research Topic focusses on:
1) the present architecture of India’s health care system; identify the gaps and challenges and ways to bridge its fragmented financing, administering and delivery.
2) the political economy of health and its implications for the prioritisation of health.
3) Identify the key elements that will contribute to a comprehensive health service system that includes public, for profit and non profit sectors - financing, provisioning, administration
4) The challenges faced by targeted public insurance schemes in a mixed provisioning scenario - with a largely unregulated private sector.
5) The moral hazards facing an insurance-led approach for universal health coverage.
6) Realizing universal health coverage by identifying multiple axes of inequities (inter-state; gender, age; religion, caste and class) and pathways to address these by drawing on state level and civil society experiences.
7) The need for economic and financial analyses related to UHC.
We particularly welcome articles which can address key questions facing India’s policy makers, including: negotiating the intersections and complementarities between public and private health provision and the design of a regulatory structure that holds each component of the health system accountable; evidence of evaluation of policies relating to UHC; raising of competency and quality based human resources for UHC; addressing the role of traditional systems of medicine; negotiating the federal dimensions and associated heterogeneity of health systems’ capacity across India’s states to articulate the distinctive roles and responsibilities of the central, state, and local government in delivering and regulating health care; and building health system capacity for enabling and regulating the use of technology in a way that supports and strengthens health delivery while protecting citizens’ rights. There are inherent tensions across these domains that need careful negotiation. The Research Topic will seek to unpack these tensions to identify the core principles of a health system that is inclusive, equitable, and accountable for the provision of quality health care.
Articles can be based on any appropriate research methodology, including syntheses of published evidence, stakeholder consultation (for example with front-line workers or doctors), case studies (for e.g. of programs, states or districts) and surveys. Articles which do not contain any empirical data will not be considered.