Abstract
Since the 1980s, multilateral agencies and governments in many parts of the world have curtailed public spending for the health sector. Simultaneously, they have started to experiment with “innovative” forms of health financing. In this presentation, Dr Bärnreuther discusses a development impact bond in India as one such form that attempts to interconnect social service provision and financial return. After situating the development impact bond in India’s health financing history, she examines the ways in which social value is translated into financial value. She also explores the consequences that the introduction of performance-based funding and calculative techniques has on the provision of healthcare as a social service.
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About the speaker
Sandra Bärnreuther is assistant professor of social and cultural anthropology at the University of Lucerne, Switzerland. Her teaching and research interests revolve around the fields of medical anthropology, anthropology of science, political anthropology, and digital anthropology. She is the author of “Substantial Relations: Making Global Reproductive Medicine in Postcolonial India,” a historically-informed ethnography of IVF in India. In her current project she examines transformations in India’s primary healthcare sector through processes of digitalization and financialization. Here, concerns about universal health coverage and access to care intersect with broader questions about health financing, data-driven development, and digital modes of health governance.
About this seminar series
“Global Health Unpacked” is a seminar series that aims to bring together the global health community on a regular basis to critically discuss key debates in Global Health in informal and interactive seminars. Guest speakers (both from the University of Oslo and from other universities) will bring an original perspective to the topic and engage in a conversation with the audience. With this seminar, we also hope to facilitate exchanges and collaborations between global health researchers and students present in Oslo and foster interdisciplinary research. “Global Health Unpacked” is jointly organized by the research group Global Health Politics, Centre for Development and the Environment and the UiO Centre for Global Health.