The current global emergency is shining a light on the weaknesses of social and health protection systems around the world, leaving the most vulnerable dangerously exposed to the full force of the crisis.

Yet, according to a recent article by Shahra Razavi, Director of the Social Protection department of the ILO, "if the pandemic has a silver lining, one hopes that it spurs governments to expand access to health services, sickness benefits, and unemployment protection."

Now is the time to re-think and improve the whole system, taking the universal right to social protection for all as our starting point. All the more if we consider that, according to the ILO, one in two people in the world have no access to any form of social protection at all.

The dream of extending social protection coverage to all is within our reach.

“Governments must use the momentum created by the current crisis to make rapid progress toward collectively financed, comprehensive, and universal social-protection systems. Only then will our societies and economies be able to weather the COVID-19 pandemic – and the other crises to come," writes Razavi.

Globally, the current health and social protection systems fall short of fully safeguarding the lives and livelihoods of the poorest and the most vulnerable.

• Nearly 40% of the world’s population has no health insurance or access to national health services. Some 800 million people spend at least 10% of their household budget on health care each year, and 100 million people fall into poverty because of medical expenses.
• 55% of the world’s population do not benefit from any form of social protection whatsoever and an overwhelming majority of workers lack the economic security to take sick leave or cope with an unexpected emergency. While the ILO estimates that almost 25 million jobs could be lost globally, only one in five unemployed people worldwide can count on unemployment benefits today.

These extracts are taken from an article by Shahra Razavi, Director of the Social Protection department of the ILO.

"We must tackle the devastating social and economic dimensions of this crisis, with a focus on the most affected:"

"We must see countries united not only to beat the virus, but also to tackle its profound consequences. That means designing fiscal and monetary policies able to support the direct provision of resources to support workers and households, the provision of health and unemployment insurance, scaled up social protection, and support to businesses to prevent bankruptcies and massive job losses."

— António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, 31 March 2020

A world-renowned centre of excellence in learning and exchange, the International Training Centre of the ILO is stepping up to the challenge by taking many of its flagship courses online. This is testament to our resilience and adaptability in the face of adversity. We have been successfully running e-learning courses since 2000.

Twenty years on, we are significantly enhancing our e-learning offer to enable us to deliver high-quality distance learning courses to participants from all over the world allowing them to engage with a global network of professionals flexibly and without the need to travel.

From 1 June to 10 July 2020, we will be offering a series of seven new e-learning courses focused on key technical areas covered by the ISSA (International Social Security Association)/ILO Guidelines, which provides practical guidance based on international best practice of social security administration.

The new courses are designed to mirror existing residential learning activities and they will be entirely run online, offering a blend of e-learning, e-collaboration and e-communication tools as well as e-tutoring by ISSA-accredited experts.

Click here to learn more and access the application forms.