Publications : All
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Federal Financing of Health: Implications for Health System Capacity and...
This paper explores the evolving nature of federal financing for health, including the increase in union transfers through Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSSs) and its implications for state-level health prioritisation and capacities.Curing the States’ Doctor Deficiency
The challenge is the production and distribution of doctors. The doctor availability across states is very variable, and there are numerous factors driving this: state’s economic status, public health expenditure, expenditure on medical education.India Needs More Doctors — and How It Can Happen
The goal of equity requires attention to incentives and encouraging migration to low-availability areas rather than restricting production. The policy focus, therefore, should be on addressing the barriers to scale.G20’s Inclusive Thrust Should Extend to Global Governance on Health...
The inability of global governance to impose checks and balances to ensure that the health needs of less endowed countries are served is worrying, writes Sandhya Venkateswaran.Medical Education in India: A Study of Supply-Side Dynamics
The paper argues for a rethink of the existing regulatory and policy requirements pertaining to setting up and, more importantly, scaling up medical colleges, in order to ensure a greater number of seats per college, and for a more equitable distribution of seats.Health System Reforms for Universal Health Coverage: Insights from Select...
This policy brief synthesises insights, relating to key challenges faced in achieving UHC, from six emerging country case studies—Brazil, China, Indonesia, Mexico, Thailand, and Turkey—with varying contexts in their journey towards UHC.Health Among Top Three Priorities for Indian Voters After Jobs and...
This suggests that political leaders may gain electoral capital from prioritising health in their election campaigns and during their terms in office.Health and democracy in India: Do voters care about health?
Oliver Heath, Jyoti Mishra, Louise Tillin & Sandhya Venkateswaran examine how Indian citizens view health through a five-state survey on electoral perceptions around health in IndiaGovt’s Increase in Health Expenditure a Welcome Step. But Indians are...
Analysing the GHE and OOPE data at national and state levels shows the need for deeper inquiry. The attribution of increased govt spending to declining out-of-pocket expenditure isn't apparent, write Alok Kumar Singh and Sandhya Venkateswaran.Political Motivation as a Key Driver for Universal Health Coverage
The paper separates motivation as a distinct factor for analysis because, in the absence of strong incentives, not every political opportunity may lead to attention to an issue, and finds that reforms were motivated by a need to gain political legitimacy by an incoming regime, or by its political ideology, or a ...Health System in Brazil: Reforms, Transformation and Challenges
Sandhya Venkateswaran and Alok Kumar Singh traces the trajectory of health system reform in Brazil, from 1990 to 2019, and analyses the contextual factors that drove the reform process.The Political Journey of Healthcare in Select Indian States
This paper examines the political trajectory of health in five Indian states, in terms of the sociopolitical determinants of attention to health, to understand differences in health status and investments, as well as to gain insights into how health came to be prioritised in some of them, which might be instructive across ...Health Systems Reforms and Transformations: Insights from Country Studies
The Health System Reforms and Transformation: Insights from Country Studies is a series of six case studies from China, Turkey, Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, and Thailand that trace the trajectory of health reforms and draw lessons in understanding key instruments that led to these shifts.Health System in Mexico: Reforms, Transformation and Challenges
Alok Kumar Singh and Sandhya Venkateswaran trace the trajectory of health system reforms, including and prior to Seguro Popular (SP), from 2003 until 2019, and analyses the contextual factors that were instrumental in the reform process.Health System in Turkey: Reforms, Transformation and Challenges
Sandhya Venkateswaran and Alok Kumar Singh trace the trajectory of health system reform in Turkey, from 2003 to 2019, and analyses the contextual factors that drove the reform process.Health System in People’s Republic of China (PRC): Reforms,...
Madhurima Nundy and Sandhya Venkateswaran's paper outlines the salient features of health reforms in China and their impact in terms of access, utilisation and equity through a systems framework.Political Motivation as a Key Driver for Universal Health Coverage
Political motivation does not always arise by itself, but it is often driven by external factors and stakeholders who contribute to creating or strengthening incentives for political attention, writes Sandhya Venkateswaran, Shruti Slaria and Sampriti Mukherjee.Right to Health Laws Need Political Support
Realising the right to health requires a system that enables quality and affordable access to health services for citizens, writes Sandhya Venkateswaran and Nikhil Iyer.Health Status in India: Challenges and Opportunities
India has experienced considerable progress in health, in outcomes as also infrastructure. However, the task of addressing the health of India’s citizens remains an unfinished task.Does India’s Development Model Need an Overhaul?
While the effects of the recent pandemic have indeed set India’s economy back several years, it is not clear if, prior to it, the development model that we were pursuing was the one best suited to ensuring that we realise our full potential as a country and as a people.India’s Health Status and Emerging Priorities
The progress on several indicators since the 2014-15 survey points to the success of interventions on various fronts, although a cross-year comparison reveals that progress has slowed down for many states.The Good, Bad, and Sober News that the NFHS Data Presents
As always, national averages belie inter-state differentials. Of note is the change in such differentials over the 2005-20 period.The Political Pathway to Health System Improvements in India
With a predominantly family health and infectious disease focus, India’s health system is not well geared to deal with the increasing burden of noncommunicable diseases.Recognising The Role of Health in India’s Social and Economic Growth
When we focus on health, there has been progress, but India remains well below peer countries — and where it needs to be — in terms of the well being of citizens. This stems from multiple reasons.Women leaders, and women voters, matter
Increasing Indian women's political participation has significant impacts on social policy and development prioritiesWhy India shows the need for democracies to prioritise healthcare
The Covid-19 pandemic offers the opportunity to reimagine the political foundations of health in India.