Selected country experiences
India
Health is a state subject in India and about 75% of government health spending is borne by the states (provinces). The National Common Minimum Programme in 2004 called for an increased government spending on health to at least 2-3% of GDP by 2009. Following this, Government of India in 2005 came out with National Rural Health Mission with an overall goal of 'universal access to public health services'. According to the report of the National Commission on Macroeconomics and Health (2005), the major challenge is to find alternative ways of financing to reduce the reliance on household out-of-pocket spending. In this context, States are attempting to come up with new variants of financing including community-based health insurance. The WHO is involved in exploring solutions to develop sustainable financial protection mechanisms in India.
Related documents
- Discussion paper (2009): Lessons learned from a community-based medisave experiment among rural women in the Indian state of Karnataka
- Assessing the performance of primary health centres under decentralized government in Kerala, India
- Local factors influencing resource allocation to health under the decentralized planning process in Kerala, India