Primary Healthcare Challenge

India has a vast and complex health system that includes both public and private provision and varies enormously from region to region. This diversity must be addressed to most effectively improve health outcomes in an equitable manner without financial stress for citizens across India. National and state-level local institutions must be able to diagnose health system challenges in an integrated manner across public and private providers and develop customized, evidence-based design choices that will enable universal access to quality healthcare. There is now an opportunity to take into account newer health issues in India, such as the burden of non-communicable disease, and to specifically strengthen the primary healthcare system and a focus on preventive care for the most effective use of resources. Such work can leverage new models of primary care being piloted in other countries as well as new data analytical methods.