Ravi Duggal is a Sociologist, trained at the University of Bombay, who has been involved in health services research, advocacy and training, especially related to health economics, health systems, and health policy; budgets, decentralization/governance and social accountability; and social sector policies and social security, for now over four decades. Presently he works as an independent Researcher and Consultant. Prior to this he worked as the Country Manager for the International Budget Partnership from 2009 – 2018 and earlier supported the Action Aid International partners in a multi-country initiative in South and South-east Asian countries on governance, economic literacy and budgets (2005-2008) and the IDRC on health, equity and governance research in South Asia (2008-2009). Other key consulting involvements included supporting the European Commission in building its new program support strategy for India, helping the Administrative Reforms Commission in developing a reform strategy for the health sector in Maharashtra and undertaking research on issues relevant to a rights based approach to health and health care. Until 2005 he was the Coordinator of CEHAT, an institution he founded along with other health activists and researchers. Until recently he was a visiting faculty for teaching health economics to MPH students at the Achutha Menon Center in Trivandrum, Kerala, as well has been a guest faculty at TISS, Mumbai and University of Mumbai for a number of years. Most recently in 2019-20 assisted the Chhattisgarh Govt. Health Ministry to evolve a strategy for UHC and completed an international assignment on developing a UHC training manual for the WHO in 2019. He is also associated with international initiatives like the Peoples Health Movement, Global Equity Gauge Alliance and the International Federation of Health and Human Rights Organisations.
Prior to CEHAT he had worked as the Country Representative of SWISSAID for six years supporting initiatives of peoples’ organisations and grassroots NGOs in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Rajasthan working on livelihood, natural resource management and protection, and development issues. During this tenure he joined the LEAD Cohort-6 (Leadership in Environment and Development) graduating at the New York session. His other involvements have included fulltime WHO National Consultant in the Ministry of Health, New Delhi, Consultancy assignments on health and development issues for World Bank, IDRC, SIDA, UNFPA, UNDP, Planning Commission, Governments of India and Maharashtra, Action Aid International, MacArthur Foundation, ICSSR, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, OXFAM India, FXB Centre of Harvard School of Public Health, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement – France, Society for International Development – Rome, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, National Insurance Academy, ICRIER, and Bombay Municipal Corporation. He had begun his research career at the Foundation for Research in Community Health where he worked for 12 years and did pioneering research in the area of health financing and the private health sector, after a two-year stint at teaching Sociology at Vivekananda College, Mumbai. He has over 20 books/reports and over 200 research papers and articles published as of now most of which are available at the link: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ravi_Duggal/publications