Person:
Kumar, Anurag

Profile Picture
Author Name Variants
Fields of Specialization
Degrees
ORCID
Externally Hosted Work
Contact Information
Last updated:November 14, 2025
Biography
Anurag is a Health Economist in the global HNP unit of the World Bank. He works on a wide range of health financing issues with the HF GSG. He moved to his current role from the Global Financing Facility's (GFF's) health financing team. Prior to that, he led the health financing and economics work program at NITI Aayog (Policy Commission), Government of India. His focus areas include resource mobilization for health, insurance reforms, PHC financing, and governance-related issues. He also has prior experience at the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) on market shaping and supply chain for essential drugs & diagnostics, and in the private sector as a management consultant. Geographically, he has worked predominantly in South & South-East Asia, and East & Southern Africa. Anurag is from Delhi, India. He holds a Masters in Economics & Public Policy from Princeton University, and a Bachelor of Technology from IIT Delhi.

Filters

2020 - 20264
Browse document type tree
Reset filters

Settings

Statistics
Citations

Publication Search Results

Now showing1 - 4 of 4
  • Thumbnail Image
    Publication
    Government Health Spending Trends Through 2023: Peaks, Declines, and Mounting Risks
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-11-08) Kurowski, Christoph; Schmidt, Martin; Kumar, Anurag; Mieses, Julio; Gabani, Jacopo
    This paper presents the most recent trends in government health spending (GHS) across 63 low- and lower-middle-income countries, offering critical insights as nations approach the decisive period for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). After the pandemic-induced surge, sustained declines in GHS per capita followed. While these declines might appear to be a logical consolidation, the resulting modest growth in GHS per capita and decreases in health’s share of overall government spending between 2019 and 2023 pose significant challenges to the sustainability of government investment in health—compounded in many countries by contracting or stagnant government expenditure projected through 2029. These shifts cannot be ignored as countries need to restart progress toward Universal Health Coverage and other health-related SDGs after the COVID-19 setback, alongside building resilience to climate change and enhancing pandemic preparedness. Increasing the priority of health in spending is a key policy option, but it will not be sufficient on its own. Effective responses also require improving spending efficiency and addressing broader fiscal challenges. Without decisive action, many countries have little chance of achieving the health SDG.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Publication
    At a Crossroads: Prospects for Government Health Financing Amidst Declining Aid
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-11-18) Kumar, Anurag; Gabani, Jacopo; Marino, Alberto; Mieses Ramirez, Julio Cesar; Eozenou, Patrick Hoang-Vu
    Investing in health is one of the most powerful drivers of human capital formation, economic growth, and job creation. However, low- and lower-middle-income countries are at a crossroads with growing economic uncertainty and sharp cuts to external aid. This report–part of an annual series–monitors the latest trends and provides an outlook on government and donor health spending in these countries. Government health spending remains well below the minimum needed to achieve universal health coverage (UHC) and has stagnated since 2018. Most LICs (80%) and many LMICs (40%) are projected to face a decline in combined government and donor health spending by 2030 as sharp cuts to development assistance for health—projected to decline by around 20%—offset modest growth in government spending. However, countries have policy options to alter their trajectories by spending better and spending more on health under fiscal constraints. Crucially, aid-dependent countries have a reform window to restructure and reshape their health systems in line with domestic priorities as aid dwindles. And it is feasible to raise the share of government spending on health in a third of LICs and LMICs—they have the fiscal space and underprioritize health compared to peers. While the challenge may appear daunting, bold reforms will deliver rapid gains by saving lives, creating jobs, and driving economic growth.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Publication
    Health Financing in a Time of Global Shocks: Strong Advance, Early Retreat
    (World Bank, 2023-05-01) Kurowski, Christoph; Kumar, Anurag; Mieses Ramirez, Julio Cesar; Schmidt, Martin; Silfverberg, Denise Valerie
    This latest paper of the Double Shock, Double Recovery series, Health Financing in a Time of Global Shocks, is a first attempt to comprehensively gauge how government health spending has fared in developing countries over the past three years – a period when the world faced shocks in swift succession. Throughout this challenging period, public investments in health have been critical to buffer their effects on human capital, most importantly, by controlling the COVID-19 pandemic. The study showed that real per capita central government health spending generally soared during the first two years of the pandemic. In 2020, it grew in per capita terms on average across all countries by approximately 21 percent, and in 2021, it stood at 25 percent above 2019 levels. The increase was primarily driven by governments prioritizing health in their spending. The initial strong advance in real per capita government health spending lost momentum in the third year of the pandemic, turning into an early retreat. On average, it contracted, from its peak of 25 percent to only 13 percent above the 2019 level, and close to its pre-pandemic trajectory. The reversal was even starker in the priority that governments gave to health. On average, the central health share in general government spending tumbled, from its maximum of 17 percent to only 5 percent above the 2019 baseline, falling back to its pre-pandemic trajectory. Hence, it was no longer the prioritization of health, but growth in general government spending that primarily helped bolster 2022 central government health spending above the 2019 level. The rapid decline of real central government health spending may have been a risky and costly retreat. In 2022, as governments were grappling with new spending demands – due to energy and food price hikes, and rapidly rising debt service costs, the Omicron caused another wave of COVID-19 infections and death worldwide, and many health systems struggled to cope with the backlog of non-COVID-19 services. The stark reversal in the priority given to health in government spending does not bode well for global health security and progress toward the health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially in countries where the macroeconomic outlook remains concerning, and the capacity to increase government spending limited. Rapid action of governments will be necessary in many developing countries to reverse this latest trend and secure the prioritization of health in government spending to put their countries and the world on a new, pandemic proof and sustainable development trajectory.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Publication
    Pathways to Reduce Household Out-of-Pocket Expenditure
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-08) Bonilla-Chacin, Maria Eugenia; Hossain, Md. Rafi; Mahmud, Md. Shahadt Hossain; Amin, Md. Nural; Sarker, Mohammad Abul Bashar; Sadat, Muhammad Anwar; Paul, Subrata; Ahmed, Shakil; Begum, Tahmina; Smith, Owen; Kumar, Anurag
    Bangladesh allocates a much smaller share of the government budget to health than countries of similar income level. Reallocation is politically challenging but could offer the biggest potential source of fiscal space for health, larger than the space that economic growth can bring. How those additional resources are used, is also important to improve financial protection. Improving the readiness of the public health care network to provide quality care, particularly at primary health care level, could reduce the use of alternative providers, thereby reducing the need for OOP payments. Ensuring the functionality of community clinics, union level facilities, and upazila health complexes, including a revision of their opening hours would also contribute towards this goal. Ensuring access to pharmaceutical products, particularly for essential NCD-related drugs, at affordable prices could also contribute to a reduction in households OOP payments. In addition to these supply-side interventions, the government could consider demand-side programs where resources follow the patient. For instance, given the large needs and the little resources available, an important pathway to reduce OOP payments while decreasing inequalities would be better targeting public subsidies to the poor and vulnerable. Finally, improving public financial management, policies, and governance will also contribute to the effective use of existing and any additional resources for health.