ZCZC
BSS-68
COVID 19-ILO-SOCIAL
Plug social protection gaps in developing countries to prevent future
crisis: ILO
DHAKA, May 14, 2020 (BSS) – International Labour Organization (ILO) has
said social protection gaps in developing countries should be plugged to
prevent any future crisis.
Strengthened and comprehensive social protection systems will lessen the
impact of crisis such as COVID-19, said a message received here today.
It said the COVID-19 crisis has exposed devastating gaps in social
protection coverage in developing countries, and recovery will only be
sustained and future crisis prevented if they can transform their ad hoc
crisis response measures into comprehensive social protection systems,
according to new analysis from the ILO.
Two briefing papers released by the ILO warn that the current gaps in
social protection could compromise recovery plans, expose millions to
poverty, and affect global readiness to cope with similar crises in future.
The papers take a detailed look at the role of social protection measures
in addressing the COVID-19 outbreak in developing countries, including the
provision of sickness benefits during the crisis.
The brief on Social protection responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in
developing countries , describes social protection as, “an indispensable
mechanism for delivering support to individuals during the crisis”. It
examines the response measures some countries have introduced, including
removing financial barriers to quality health care, enhancing income
security, reaching out to workers in the informal economy, protecting incomes
and jobs, and improving the delivery of social protection, employment and
other interventions.
“While the virus does not discriminate between rich and poor, its effects
are highly uneven”, the brief says, adding that the ability to access
affordable, quality, healthcare has become “a matter of life and death”.
“While the virus does not discriminate between rich and poor, its effects
are highly uneven. The ability to access affordable, quality, healthcare has
become ‘a matter of life and death’, it said.
The brief also warns policymakers to avoid a singular focus on COVID-19
because this could reduce the availability of health systems to respond to
“other conditions that kill people every day”. It cites the example of how,
during the Ebola epidemic, a focus on this virus exacerbated mortality from
malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.
According to data in the brief, 55 per cent of the world’s population – as
many as four billion people – are not covered by social insurance or social
assistance. Globally, only 20 per cent of unemployed people are covered by
unemployment benefits, and in some regions the coverage is much lower.
The other Social Protection Spotlight brief covers Sickness benefits
during sick leave and quarantine, Country responses and policy considerations
in the context of COVID-19 .
It warns that the COVID-19 health crisis has exposed two main adverse
effects of gaps in sickness benefit coverage. Firstly, such protection gaps
can force people to go to work when they are sick or should self-quarantine,
so increasing the risk of infecting others. Secondly, the related loss of
income increases the risk of poverty for workers and their families, which
could have a lasting impact.
The brief calls for urgent, short-term measures to close sickness benefit
coverage and adequacy gaps, pointing out that this would bring a three-fold
benefit: support for public health, poverty prevention, and promotion of the
human rights to health and social security.
The proposed measures include extending sickness benefit coverage to all,
with particular attention given to reaching women and men in non-standard and
informal employment, the self-employed, migrants and vulnerable groups. Other
recommendations include increasing benefit levels to ensure they provide
income security, speeding up benefit delivery, and expanding the scope of
benefits to include prevention, diagnosis and treatment measures, as well as
time spent in quarantine or on the care of sick dependants.
“The COVID-19 crisis is a wake-up call. It has shown that a lack of social
protection affects not just the poor, it exposes the vulnerability of those
who have been getting by relatively well, because medical charges and loss of
income can easily destroy decades of family work and saving,” said Shahra
Razavi, Director of the ILO’s Social Protection Department.
“The examples from around the world clearly demonstrate once again that
countries with robust and comprehensive social protection systems are in a
much stronger position to respond to, and recover from, a crisis”, it said.
Policymakers need to build on the momentum generated by growing public
awareness of the importance of social protection and the urgency of investing
in it as a society, to ensure preparedness for future crisis.
BSS/PR/SAS/KU/2204 HRS