Why does rural health remain underfunded - even when everyone agrees it matters?

In this opening monologue of Rethinking Rural Health Financing, Chinasa Imo sets the stage for a bold new podcast series that interrogates one of the most overlooked drivers of health inequity: how money moves, who controls it, and who is left out.

This episode challenges the assumption that rural health struggles are simply about distance, infrastructure, or workforce shortages. Instead, it asks harder questions about power, priorities, and financing decisions that consistently place rural communities at the margins of health systems.

From under-resourced clinics and unpaid health workers to donor dependency, political neglect, and the hidden costs rural families shoulder just to access “free” care, this monologue reframes rural health as a financing design problem, not a service delivery failure.
This series will explore:
Why rural health is chronically underfunded
How financing models exclude rural populations
The role of governments, donors, and private investment
Why rural communities pay the most for the least care
What equitable, dignity-centred rural health financing could look like

Rethinking Rural Health Financing is not about easy answers. It’s about asking the questions we avoid - and centring rural lives in global health conversations where they are too often invisible. Listen, reflect, and join the conversation.

Want to be a guest on What About Rural Health?™? Send Chinasa Imo a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/chinasaimo