Social Protection : Shared Interests in Vulnerability Reduction and Development

Social protection services and income transfers are put in place by governments to reduce households vulnerability to poverty, to manage risks and counteract the negative impacts that unexpected life events may have on their income, wealth or health, and to lift them out of chronic poverty. Vulnerability, unexpected life events, and impoverishment not only have an impact on low- and middle-income countries but also on high-income countries, where unemployment resulting from economic crises and cuts in public spending, can increase economic insecurity for millions of people in middle-income brackets. This brief describes challenges facing social protection agencies and potential areas for joint work. It has three sections. 1. Social protection overview. This section covers mutual public policy interests between health and other areas of social protection; global trends in social protection regimes and the challenges; the goals and principles for policy action; and a typology of common policy interventions. It situates these issues within a broad policy, economic, and stakeholder context. 2. Interventions. The second part describes in more detail the different types of interventions presented in the previous section, their health impacts and pathways, and provides some examples of areas for joint work between health and other areas of social protection. 3. Summary messages. Summarizes key messages and examples of areas for collaboration between health and other areas of social protection.