As India gets ready for the introduction of Modicare, reported to be the largest government-sponsored insurance scheme in the world with a target population of 500 million, we highlight five key points about the revolutionary health scheme. 1. The poor are the primary beneficiaries of this scheme Modicare’ s predecessor, the government-run health insurance programme Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), …
Using service delivery platforms to strengthen health systems
The call for ‘health system strengthening’ (HSS) has become something of a mantra in global health circles in recent years. But what do we mean by HSS and how might policymakers go about enacting it? My colleagues Dr Katharina Hauck, Dr Ranjeeta Thomas and I are working on an iDSI project where we take the position that an important form …
Indian public health budget allocation announced today at 20% lower than expected: Is the Government justified in not increasing the budget in line with Ministry of Health requests?
The government of India has today approved a three-year budget for its flagship public health programme, the National Health Mission. At $20billion, this budget is almost 20 percent lower than what the health ministry said was needed, according to documents reviewed by Reuters India. This leaves the potential increase of funding to the health system at 2.5% GDP from the …
Building strong relationships with country partners to achieve universal health coverage
Earlier this week we announced the launch of the new iDSI website: a platform that highlights our work helping low and middle income countries to achieve sustainable, good quality healthcare and also provides a place for our experts to weigh in on current events in the global health community on our blog. Our Impact The second feature of the new …
iDSI launches new communication platforms for the global health community
We’re very excited to announce that iDSI has a new and much improved website! We believe that the new site will better serve the global health community: providing access to key resources to support the advancement of healthcare systems and connecting people with our network of health economists and global health experts. You can find our website at the same …
More money is not always the answer to the ills of global health
Increasing the amount of money spent on health isn’t always the answer, especially in the absence of a system that can readily and effectively absorb additional funds. Laura Downey discusses this in the context of India in the following blog. According to an IndiaSpend analysis of 2017 Reserve Bank of India data on state budgets, nine of India’s poorest states …