Participation is by invitation only.
Good health has both intrinsic merit as it relates to quality of life, as well as a more utilitarian aspect, in its contribution to economic activity. The improvement experienced by individuals in their day to day life when their health is good is extremely important, but this subjective experience does not lend itself easily to measurement of social value. Health, as it relates to the economy, however, is both important and more tractable when it comes to policy analysis. India needs to start preparing now for a medium-term future in which fundamentals like human capital will have become critically important for growth.
It is important for governments to be fully aware of the growth impact of different investment choices. At the moment, governments often favour visible investments in physical infrastructure over investment in human capital. Because many ministries of finance are worried that they may be getting less than the theoretical value out of marginal increases in social sector spending, finance ministries need to be able to lead on a public finance system that can actually deliver better public services. On that basis, it will be much easier to consider the growth benefits of health spending on an equal footing with other choices. All of these are dimensions on which India would benefit from a purposeful approach towards a system with better outcomes.
Read the agenda here
Sunjoy Joshi, Chairman, ORF
Shakti Sinha, Director, NMML
Bill Gates, Co-Chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Ireena Vittal, Independent Expert, Agriculture and Urban Development, Former Partner with McKinsey & Co.
Sanjeev Sanyal, Principal Economic Advisor, Ministry of Finance
Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Vice Chancellor, Ashoka University
Samir Saran, Vice President, ORF
The timing of this event is from 7:00 p.m. to 8:15 p.m.
