There is a highly diverse set of providers of health care especially in low and middle income countries where a choice between spiritual and other traditional forms of healing; unqualified but cheap and accessible drug sellers and highly technical specialist hospitals are often simultaneously available, all operating privately and for-profit. The not-for-profit sector is often also an important actor in the market place. Public providers are often dwarfed by this diverse private sector in terms of the volume of services they deliver, the number of facilities they operate, and the level of finance that is channelled through them.

This Lancet series: Universal Health Coverage: markets, profit and the public good, edited by Kara Hanson and Barbara McPake, discusses the implications of this scenario for the ability of low and middle income countries to achieve Universal Health Coverage; and where public policy can intervene to promote UHC in this context.

Copies of the series will be available at the symposium

Speakers:

Richard Horton (Chair)

Maureen Mackintosh, Open University

Tim Ensor, University of Leeds

Catherine Goodman, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Barbara McPake, University of Melbourne

Discussants:

Gerry Bloom, Institute of Development Studies

Simon Wright, Save the Children

Lizzie Smith, Department for International Development

The session will be followed by lunch

Universal Health Coverage: markets, profit & the public good