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