The United States isn’t the only country trying to work out kinks in its healthcare system. In India, demand for healthcare has increased as the nation has continued to grow; India has a universal health care system and now must provide care for 1.2 billion citizens.
Private equity company KKR, run by Henry R. Kravis and George Roberts, recently invested $90 million in Apollo Hospitals Enterprise, which should help support growing demand by building more hospitals and helping to repay the founders’ debts.
As a company, KKR has invested in several other companies in India, including Bharti Infratel Ltd., Coffee Day Resorts, Dalmia Cement, Magma Fincorp, and TVS Logistics Services Ltd. Most recently, the private equity firm has been focused on expanding into the Asian region.
KKR Co-CEO and Co-Founder Henry Kravis has also supported Indian ventures through his Henry R. Kravis Prize in Leadership, which was awarded to Pratham in 2010. An educational program focusing on bring pre-school education to children in the slums of Mumbai, Pratham had already affected over 34 million children by 2010.
In 2011, the Vicki Colbert, co-author of the Escuela Nueva educational model and founder of the Fundacion Escuela Nueva, was awarded the prize. Two winners were recognized with the 2012 Henry R. Kravis Prize in Leadership: mothers2mothers and Soraya Salti of INJAZ Al-Arab. The most recent winner of the award was Johann Olav Koss, Olympic speed skater and founder of Right to Play.
Currently, India has a life expectancy of 67.48, placing them 163rd out of 223 ranked countries. The United States, on the other hand, ranks 51st and has an average life expectancy of 78.62. The top ranking country, Monaco, has a life expectancy of 89.63 (a far cry from #2, Macau, at 84.46). India’s infant mortality rate is the 50th worst in the world, with an average of 44.6 deaths per 1,000 live births. Hopefully, with a greater focus on healthcare and an expanded network of hospitals, these numbers will begin to improve.