In 2018, the Government of India renewed its commitment to Universal Health Coverage by announcing the launch of Ayushman Bharat Yojana. The government also committed to increase public expenditure on health to 2.5% of the GDP by 2025. But in order to reach this target from the current 1.28% of GDP, the Union health budget needs to increase by 26% year on year. In 2018-19, the increase was 11.8%.

Building upon our report on Financing Universal Health Care in India, GHS collaborated with the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) to develop a paper on key health sector initiatives taken by the Government of India in recent years and the progress on India’s journey towards achieving UHC. These initiatives include a steady increase in the Government’s health spending, structural changes in the flow of funds and the launch of the world’s largest public health insurance scheme, Ayushman Bharat.

The paper has been shared with stakeholders and technical experts to garner traction and raise the discourse on the need for increased financial commitments towards health to meet the vision and target of UHC in India.