Overview
With a population over 1.4 billion, the health system of India has challenges and opportunities on an unprecedented scale. India is making remarkable progress towards universal health coverage with its signature health insurance plan for 40 percent of its population–the largest insurance scheme in the world–as well as innovations in digital health and primary care. Join us to hear about recent advances directly from two of India’s senior civil servants who are also pursuing graduate degrees at Harvard.
Featuring
- Praveen Gedam, MPH ’23 – “Challenges for digital health and the way forward”
Praveen is an Indian civil servant with experience of more than 20 years. Before joining Harvard, Praveen was the Additional Chief Executive Officer at the National Health Authority and in charge of two health programs of the Government of India. As the first Mission Director of an ambitious national digital health mission, he spearheaded the formulation of policies including those for digital health data management. He also led the development of a digital platform enabling interoperability among disparate systems. He also led India’s national health insurance scheme catering to >500 million citizens. Earlier in his career, Praveen led district and city governments, and departments at state and national levels, and worked extensively in the area of public health in cross-domain settings. Praveen has worked closely with various stakeholders such as political leaders, healthcare providers, international organizations, NGOs, media, and civil society. He has won several awards for his leadership and excellence in administration at the state and national levels. Praveen is MBBS from Nagpur University, India, and enjoys reading, music, and hiking. Praveen is currently a Master of Public Health student at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and also a Fulbright scholar.
- Vipul Aggarwal, MPH ’23 – “Engaging providers under PM-JAY: issues and priorities”
Vipul is a physician turned civil servant from India with more than 20 years of work experience. Most recently he served as the administrative head of Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY, the world’s largest public funded health assurance scheme serving 540 million beneficiaries (pmjay.gov.in). In previous assignments in Gujarat, he headed the National Health Mission, which is India’s major public health program, and also headed Procurement and Supply Chain Management for the health department of the province. He has also previously served as Police Chief of several districts as well as the head of police administration of Ahmedabad City. Vipul is currently a Master of Public Health student at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and also a Policy Fellow with the India Health Systems Reform Project.
- Moderated by Professor Michael Reich.
- With comments provided by Dr. Bijetri Bose and Elizabeth Osborn (MPH ’23), both of the India Health Systems Reform Project, to open the broader discussion.
Resources
- Watch a recording of the webinar here.
- Sponsored by the India Health Systems Reform Project of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health as part of the sixth annual Worldwide Week at Harvard by the Harvard Office of the Vice Provost for International Affairs.
