Globally, universal health coverage (UHC) has been highlighted as an important goal, because of its close links to poverty reduction and potential to enhance the economic growth of countries.

From public to private health care, across primary, secondary, and tertiary care, and whether we look at the challenges and opportunities for physicians or community health workers, the promise of UHC is heady and exciting. Through this two-part discussion with Dr. Nachiket Mor, not only an expert in health, but someone who is deeply passionate about health and health systems, host Rathish Balakrishnan explores the plethora of trade-offs and barriers to realising UHC in India.

In part one of this discussion Dr. Mor helps us understand what universal health coverage is, highlights existing bright spots, looks at the role of primary care, and discusses how we can talilor an approach to UHC that leverages India’s strengths.

Dr. Nachiket Mor is trained as an economist. His current work is principally focused on the design of national and regional health systems. He is a Visiting Scientist at The Banyan Academy of Leadership in Mental Health and a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Information Technology and Public Policy at IIIT Bangalore. He is also a Commissioner on the Lancet Commission on Reimagining India's Health System.

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Host: Rathish Balakrishnan | ⁠Linkedin | Twitter
Guest: Dr. Nachiket Mor | Linkedin | Twitter
Producer: Meenakshi Iyer
Audio Engineer & Editor: Abhilash Raikar
Designer: Usha Sondhi Kundu

Content Sections

0:00 - Decoding Impact Introduction
0:47 - Introduction to topic and guest
02:47 - Where is India in relation to Universal Health Coverage today?
09:58 - The People vs. Politics of UHC
13:14 - Building things for the greater good rather than to feel good
15:55 - Key levers to think about UHC
20:45 - Understanding the Indian context
21:57 - What is working well & opportunites in India
24: 57 - More examples in India of what is working well
26:52 - Building a multidisciplinary approach top down
29:52 - The missing tissue between ideas and intent
32:05 - Finding solutions and how to think about financing UHC
36:44 - Evolving the role of community health aids for UHC
43:21 - Learnability of community health aids
44:42 - The effect of localising community workers
46:11 - Avoiding the pitfalls of isomorphic mimicry
50:52 - Reflection and opportunities
52:41 - Understanding the true cost of UHC for India
01:00:08 - We need a high trust system to realise UHC
01:05:33 - Summary and Outro

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