[afro-nets] Social health protection: an ILO strategy towards universal access to social health care

["Claudio Schuftan" <cschuftan@phmovement.org>]

Cross-posted from: EQUIDAD@listserv.paho.org
By: Ruggiero, Mrs. Ana Lucia (WDC) ruglucia@paho.org

Social health protection: an ILO strategy towards universal access to healthcare.

Draft for consultation

Issues in Social Protection; Discussion Paper 19 International Labour Office, Geneva 2007 ISBN: 978-92-2-1200970...

Available online as PDF file [94p.] at:
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/secsoc/downloads/healthpolicy.pdf

"…..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 are calling for reforms in social health protection as a political priority.

In middle- and low-income countries, ensuring affordable health care is high on the development agenda given the large numbers of people lacking sufficient financial means to access health services: worldwide, more than 100 million people are pushed into poverty every year by the need to pay for health care.

Denied access to medically necessary health care has a significant social and economic impact(): aside from effects on health and poverty, the close link between health, labour market and income generation affects economic growth and development. This is due to the fact that healthier workers have higher productivity, and labour supply increases if morbidity and mortality rates are lower.

Universal social health protection ensures that all people in need have effective access to at least essential care and is thus a key mechanism for achieving these objectives. It is designed to alleviate the burden posed by ill health, including death, disability and loss of income. Social health protection coverage also reduces the indirect costs of disease and disability, such as lost years of income due to death, short and long-term disability, care of family members, lower productivity, and hampered education and social development of children due to sickness. It hence plays a significant role in poverty alleviation….."

 (): SOCIAL HEALTH PROTECTION, FOR ME, IS AN IMPERATIVE, NOT BECAUSE IT 'HAS A SIGNIFICANT SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACT', BUT BECAUSE IT IS AN INALIENABLE HUMAN RIGHTS. I DO NOT SEE THIS REFLECTED HERE.   
Claudio

Contents

Foreword
1. Introduction
2. What is social health protection?
3. Financing social health protection: The current situation
4. Coverage of social health protection and access to health services
a. ILO concepts and definitions of coverage and access
b. Trends and data on formal social health protection coverage
c. The global access deficit: An attempt to estimate its dimension
d. The global access deficit: Some detailed observations
5. Rationalizing the use of pluralistic financing mechanisms: An ILO strategyf or achieving universal coverage in social health protection
6. Conclusion
Annex

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Claudio Schuftan
mailto:cschuftan@phmovement.org