Social Protection

Building social protection floors
and comprehensive social security systems

Toolkit on Social Health Protection

An effective social health protection system provides universal access to needed health care that is affordable, available, of adequate quality and offers financial protection in times of illness, injury and maternity. The ILO supports its constituents in this endeavour, see our service offer and flagship thematic pages. This Toolkit provides a gateway to relevant material on social health protection for practitioners as well as for those who wish to learn about the topic.

ILO standards on social health protection: a rights-based approach towards universal health coverage

Health and social security are human rights and as such should be guaranteed to all persons, leaving no one behind. This rights-based approach is rooted in the body of human rights and ILO standards which represent a global consensus to guide the development of social health protection systems. International standards provide a range of principles that can be employed in the design and implementation of social protection schemes, which satisfy the criteria of availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality. Social health protection is firmly grounded in the international rights framework.

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ILO Brief: Towards Universal Health Coverage: Social Health Protection Principles
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ILO Brief: Sickness Benefit
RELATED CONVENTION & RECOMMENDATION
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Statistical picture: Tracking legal and effective coverage and adequacy

The right to social health protection is not yet a universal reality. Significant progress was achieved in increasing population coverage, with almost two thirds of the global population protected by a scheme. Still, while population coverage increased, less attention was paid to adequacy and equity in some contexts.

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ILO Brief: Social Health Protection: A Statistical Picture from the World Social Protection Report 2020-2022 (English)
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World Social Protection Report
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Extending social health protection: Accelerating progress towards Universal Health Coverage in Asia and the Pacific
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Building Social Health Protection systems throughout the world

ILO analyse and compile experiences from countries in Asia and the Pacific, CIS and Latin America in their efforts to build universal Social Health Protection systems that are resilient, effective, inclusive, adequate and sustainable over the long term. It aims to shed light on the role of social health protection as a transformative policy tool contributing to effective access to health care without financial hardship. These reports highlight progress made, challenges encountered and remaining coverage gaps, and explores their root causes.

 
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Thematic areas

IMG
Financing Social Health Protection
IMG
Social Health Protection within National Social Protection Strategies
IMG
Social Health Protection & Ageing & Disabilities
IMG
Social Health Protection & Pandemic
IMG
Social Health Protection & the Health & Care workforce
IMG
Social Health Protection for Migrants & Refugees
IMG
Social Health Protection & Climate Change
IMG
Social Health Protection & Maternal
IMG
Social Determinants of Health
IMG
Social Health Protection & Informal Economy

Videos

Kenya: Maternity cash benefit for women in the informal economy - call to action

Extending social health protection: Accelerating progress towards UHC in Asia and the Pacific

Towards Universal Social Health Protection Voices: Nguyen Thi Ha

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Management, administration and actuarial work

Social health protection management and administration

Good governance of the social health protection system aims at ensuring transparent financial management and administration. Sound legal and regulatory frame-works need to foster institutional coherence and quality public services. ILO standards thus also call for regular monitoring of implementation, and periodic evaluation within a comprehensive accountability framework and, where appropriate, for periodical actuarial studies and calculations concerning financial sustainability to be conducted.

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Towards Universal Health Coverage: Social Health Protection Principles
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ILO-GIZ-WHO guidebook on SHI
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COUNTRY CASES

Actuarial modelling for Social Health Protection

Building on decades of policy and analytical work to support countries in the extension of their social protection systems, the ILO has created a set of quantitative tools to support the long-term planning and sustainability of social health protection schemes and programmes. ILO/HEALTH was created to support the development of institutional capacities to produce a strong evidence-based process of policy reform.

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ILO/HEALTH guide
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ILO/HEALTH in QPSS platform
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Partnerships in the areas of Social Health Protection and Health Financing

The ILO takes an integrated approach with other development partners working on health. In particular, the ILO works in a complementary fashion with the member organizations of the main networks on social health protection and health financing and provides its normative and technical contribution.

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CONNECT-Asia (COllaboration for Network-eNabled Education, Culture, Technology and science) was created in June 2009 to share experiences on information and communication technologies and work together for education and research. It works to create an effective and flexible mechanism for using ICT-mediated educational systems and network-enabled teaching and learning methods.
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The Providing for Health (P4H) Network gathers 20 members worldwide working on social health protection and health financing. It aims at creating synergies and joint activities, as well as fostering coordination among development partners at national level. Its coordination desk (secretariat) is shared between ILO, WHO and the World Bank. The ILO is engaged in all instances of the network and in 2022-2023, it became co-chair of its Steering Group for a 2-year mandate.
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In September 2021, the United Nations Secretary-General launched the Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions, with the ambition of bringing together member States, international financial institutions, social partners, civil society and the private sector to help countries create 400 million decent jobs, including in the green, digital and care economies, and to extend social protection coverage to the 4 billion people currently excluded.
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Working for Health is a joint programme of the ILO, OCED and WHO. In 2016, the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, set up an intersectoral High-Level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth (‘the Commission’), drawing Commissioners from the education, finance, health and labour sectors. Their task is to identify strategies to avert a projected shortfall of 18 million health workers by 2030 – primarily in low- and middle-income countries – and guide action on the unprecedented global demand for health and social sector jobs in wealthier economies.
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UHC2030 provides a platform where the private sector, civil society, international organizations, academia and governmental organizations can collaborate to create a movement for accelerating equitable and sustainable progress towards universal health coverage (UHC) and health systems strengthening at global and country levels. UHC2030 is the only multi-stakeholder platform that brings together diverse voices and perspectives for the common goal of achieving UHC, sustains momentum around UHC commitments and promotes collective action.
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SPARKS is an international interdisciplinary research network, a network that moves beyond TB, using TB as a tracer for poverty-related diseases with prominent social determinants and consequences. With respect to TB, the archetypal disease of poverty, we aim to identify and address upstream and downstream social determinants at the individual, household, community, and governmental level, which influence risk of TB exposure, infection, disease and cure.
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The Global Action Plan for Healthy Lives and Well-being for All (SDG3 GAP), established in 2019, brings together 13 multilateral health, development and humanitarian agencies. Its goal is to help countries accelerate progress on the health-related SDGs targets, through a set of commitments to strengthen collaboration across the agencies to take joint action and provide more coordinated and aligned support to country owned and led national plans and strategies.
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PROSPECTS (Partnership for improving prospects for forcibly displaced persons and host communities) brings together ILO, UNHCR, UNICEF, IFC and WB. ILO and governments are looking to work across humanitarian and development processes using social protection to provide predictable support for displaced populations and host communities beyond short-term intent of humanitarian assistance. The integration of refugees into national Social Health Protection can provide sustainable solutions to move out of humanitarian assistance.

ILO service offer in the area of Social Health Protection

The ILO works with line ministries, social health protection institutions, social partners and other stakeholders, requesting technical support.

To see our intervention, please see our flagship thematic page. Please contact to SOCPRO@ilo.org

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Social Health Protection Service offer
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