Social Security Policy Briefings. Paper 1

Social Health Protection. An ILO strategy towards universal access to health care

The affordability of health care is a key issue in most countries. In high-income countries, increasing costs, financial constraints of public budgets and economic considerations regarding international competitiveness have all made social health protection reform a political priority.

This paper presents the ILO strategy on social health protection. The paper outlines global patterns of social health protection financing and coverage.