Extending social health protection: Accelerating progress towards Universal Health Coverage in Asia and the Pacific
Demand for adequate social health protection systems is high. Access to quality health care without hardship is a central guarantee of a social protection floor, a stepping stone to realize the human rights to health and social security and a necessary condition to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially universal social protection and universal health coverage. Changing demographics, evolutions in the world of work and health as well as economic and environmental shocks call for social health protection systems able to innovate and find sustainable pathways towards universal coverage. This includes coverage of workers in all forms of employment and their families, and involves supporting the transition from the informal to the formal economy.
The Report
This publication provides important insights to practitioners on concrete ways to adapt and extend social health protection, including through adapted design features building on the principles laid out in ILO standards (in particular, the Medical Care Recommendation, 1944 (No. 69), the Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1952 (No. 102), the Medical Care and Sickness Benefits Convention, 1969 (No. 130), the Medical Care and Sickness Benefits Recommendation, 1969 (No. 134) as well as the Social Protection Floors Recommendation, 2012 (No. 202)).
It provides a regional and thematically focused resource complementing the ILO's flagship report: World Social Protectin Report 2020-2022 which provides a detailed overview of recent development in social protection systems globally and the ILO's Guidebook: Extending social security to workers in the informal economy Lessons from international experience which provides evidence on good practices, and challenges to address the multi-fold challenges of extending social protection to workers in the informal economy and facilitating transitions to formality. Drawing on examples from Asia and the Pacific, this publication sheds light on the role of social health protection as a transformative policy contributing to effective access to health care without financial hardship in a way that fosters redistribution and solidarity.
Social Protection in action: building social protection floors for all
21 country briefs were extracted from the report as part of the ILO's country briefs series: Social Protection in action: building social protection floors for all. They provide detailed accounts of a given country's social health protection landscape as well as opportunities for the strengthening and expansion of social health schemes, programmes and institutions. Find them here.
Regional conference on Extending Social Health Protection in the Asia and the Pacific Region: Towards Universal Health Care Coverage
The ILO's regional report on social health protection was launched during the Regional Conference on Extending Social Health Protection in Asia and the Pacific region on 7 and 9 December 2021. The conference which was jointly organised by the Issue-Based Coalition (IBC) on Empowerment and Inclusion and CONNECT consisted of high level and expert panels on the state of social health protection in the region and strategies to sustainably expand coverage and adequacy of protection. A third session on ageing and long-term care is planned in January 2022.
Access the conference's page and material here.
Relevant standards
- Medical Care Recommendation, 1944 (No. 69)
- Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1952 (No. 102)
- Medical Care and Sickness Benefits Convention, 1969 (No. 130)
- Medical Care and Sickness Benefits Recommendation, 1969 (No. 134)
- Social Protection Floors Recommendation, 2012 (No. 202)
Relevant publications
About this project
Support to the extension of Social Health Protection in South-East Asia
RAS/17/09/LUX - Myanmar, Lao PDR, Vietnam - Asia and the Pacific - Luxembourg
This project is part of the Global Flagship Programme on Building Social Protection Floors for All
The Project has for overall goal to help more women and men in Lao People's Democratic Republic, Myanmar and Viet Nam access adequate social health protection, under the overall umbrella of national strategies toward UHC and the global development agenda including ILO's Flagship Programme on Social Protection Floors.
The overall outcomes include:
- Effective, efficient, accountable and sustainable gender responsive social health protection is delivered with an increased coverage in Lao PDR, Myanmar and Viet Nam.
- A growing number of policies promoting the extension and sustainability of social protection in the region and based on additional technical evidence are adopted.
- The development of a Regional Technical Facility (RTF) on Social Health Protection. As a regional centre of excellence it will provide and promote good practices, leadership and joint research opportunities and will deliver training and technical assistance in the region. Learn more about CONNECT here.
The ILO's first regional report on social health protection is a key project output under the ILO-Luxembourg project: Support to the extension of Social Health Protection in South-East Asia.
Read more here.
Contact Information
Approach
The ILO promotes a rights-based approach to social health protection, with the objective of ensuring effective access to quality health care without hardship and impoverishment. 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.
Key areas of interventions in social health protection include:
Dialogue and Strategy
Design
Implementation
Learn more about our social health protection service offer here
Contact information
ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
Marielle Phe Goursat
ILO Social Protection Department
CH-1211 Geneva 22
Switzerland
Lou Tessier