Health for all? Pasts, presents and futures of aspirations for universal healthcare

In this special issue, we bring together anthropological and historical work that considers successive aspirations towards ‘health for all’: their pasts, their futures, and their diverse meanings and iterations. Across the world, hopes for providing ‘health for all’ were central to nation building in the long 20th century, and for international relations, particularly after the second world war and the establishment of the WHO. Health became seen as a fundamental good by citizens of North and South and has remained a central force shaping global and national politics until today. But what does ‘health for all’ actually mean, and how did it come to matter? In this introduction we approach ‘health for all as a situated, multi-faceted phenomenon, that - while having a shared aspiration towards universality of access and equality of care - comes into focus in partial, diverse and contentious policies, programmes, projects and practices. Beyond homogenising narratives that frame ‘health for all’ in terms of either success or failure, the special issue highlights the diverse iterations that ‘health for all’ has taken on the ground for different subjects and groups of people, exploring exclusions and limitations as well as dreams and aspirations. •We explore histories of shared aspirations for ‘health for all’ in the 20th century as well as their present-day iterations.•Dreams of ‘health for all’ often translate into partial, diverse and contentious policies, programmes, projects and practices.•We examine the exclusions, limitations and frictions that often accompany aspirations of ‘health for all’.•We explore what such aspirations and interventions may engender beyond their immediate or long-term goals.