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Why does health and social protection in health matter to the ILO?
More than half of the world's population is excluded from social protection in health. This impacts on basic human rights to health and social security, universal values such as equity, social justice and effects on social cohesion and social peace. Further, ill health impacts on income generation and might result in illness-inflicted unemployment and disability. In many cases, ill health leads to a poverty trap and results in illnesses going untreated among those who cannot afford access to health services. High out-of-pocket payments might push people into poverty and lead to applying welfare threatening strategies such as selling of assets or increasing debts. From an economic point of view, consequences of untreated diseases and barriers to access health services include lower productivity and per capita income, loss years of income due to reduced life expectancy and lower health status.
Social protection in health is a key instrument to address poverty, income security and access to health services. Based on solidarity, it provides access to health services at an affordable cost. Thereby it contributes to achieving decent work, socio-economic development and the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
It is in this context that ILO's mandate focuses on social protection in health. It is specified in:
The Global Campaign on Social Security and Coverage for All, the ILO's overall framework on social protection in health prioritizes a rights-based, inclusive approach to health care based on core values such as equity, social justice and solidarity. According to economic and institutional development, culture and history, every country is encouraged to determine best forms of ensuring access to health services and financial protection through organizational and financial arrangements such as universal schemes, social health insurance, micro-insurance and private provision.
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Highlights
Social Health Protection: An ILO strategy towards universal access to health care(pdf 723 KB); also available in french (pdf 732 KB); also available in spanish (pdf 793 KB)
This draft paper is the first in the Department's series of papers in the field of social health protection and is a contribution to the assignment bestowed on the International Labour Office by the International Labour Conference, namely to launch a major campaign for the extension of social security to all. It aims to set forth some basic notions about the ILO strategy on "Rationalization of the use of pluralistic financing mechanisms".
It is based on the most recent information on social health protection coverage. After a brief introduction to the ILO's concept of social health protection, the paper outlines global patterns of social health protection financing and coverage. Given the lack of data and trends in social health protection coverage, the paper proposes a new indicator aimed at providing, for the first time, some assessment of the global deficit in access to health services. The ILO strategy takes account of the significant gaps revealed by the ILO ACCESS DEFICIT INIDICATOR and suggests new pragmatic policies to close the gaps, based on a rational and coherent approach.
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For further information contact by email:
Xenia Scheil-Adlung
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