This study will seek to compare the prospects of Universal Health care (UHC) in two East African countries (Tanzania and Kenya) with different political and administrative structures with a view to picking out lessons from each. This social anthropological study on UHC will look into the complex historical, political, social and economic struggles of reconfigurations of the private and public health care provisioning. The study will seek to answer the following research questions:

(i)                 What are the social, political and historical contexts of health care provisioning in Africa predating the UHC movement? 

(ii)              What are the effects of post-austerity measures on the health care provisioning in Africa?

(iii)            Who are the actors and what are their roles in universal healthcare in the two East African countries?

(iv)             How is universal healthcare perceived (social, cultural, economic, political) by the different actors in selected African countries?

(v)                How are structural/institutional settings and changes affecting universal healthcare coverage in the two East African countries?