First published in 1948, the International Social Security Review is the principal international quarterly publication in the field of social security.
The article provides a brief overview of the social impacts of the COVID-19 crisis in Latin America and the Caribbean, presenting how these are intertwined with a structural deficit of social protection systems. It also describes the main features of the emergency social protection responses adopted by Latin American countries that are relevant to the ongoing debate on an emergency basic income. Finally, it discusses the role, implications, and challenges in implementing an emergency basic income as a sustainable entitlement, embedded in the social protection system, to be activated in times of crisis.
Migration affects almost every nation, emphasizing the need to guarantee social security rights for all migrants and their families. This article focuses on the rights of workers who migrate between the countries of the European Union (EU) and the Ibero-American Community. In the EU, social security systems are increasingly coordinated through Regulation No. 883/2004 and its Implementing Regulation No. 987/2009. In the Ibero-American Community, coordination is sought through the Ibero-American Social Security Convention. Despite convergence between these two international instruments, coordination is still lacking between them. This article presents a comparative analysis to articulate the necessary mechanisms to guarantee coordination, to respect the social security rights of migrant workers. We focus on the cooperation and coordination between regional as well as national systems, specifically looking at the need for and aims of a rapprochement between these two major international coordination instruments to provide greater Euro-Ibero-American cooperation. Finally, the importance of promoting greater international cooperation in social security policy and administration is highlighted, to engender the adequate protection of the rights as well as the free movement of migrant workers.
This article assesses the effectiveness of pension provision and health insurance in preventing ill health among older people in developing countries. It argues that, until recently, social protection agendas devoted insufficient attention to health risk prevention, instead focusing on the reduction of income poverty through cash transfers. The article shows that there is little reliable evidence to indicate that providing older people with pension benefits enhances their health status and that these effects should not be taken for granted by policy‐makers. The article then focuses on the effect of inclusion in health insurance schemes on health outcomes for older people, with specific reference to outcomes related to hypertension. Drawing on newly‐available data from the World Health Organization for Ghana, Mexico and South Africa, it shows that older people with health insurance are marginally more likely to be aware of health conditions such as hypertension and more likely to have them under control. Nevertheless, the great majority of hypertensive older people, insured or uninsured, are not effectively treated. The chief barriers to treatment are shown to be mainly related to awareness and service provision, rather than financial ones. Consequently, the capacity of pensions or health insurance to enhance health outcomes for older people in such countries, including in rural areas, is heavily contingent upon health education, health screening and adequate health service provision. These interventions should be viewed as an integral element of mainstream social protection strategies, rather than adjuncts to them. Yet, in practice, social protection and health promotion continue to be treated as almost entirely separate spheres, thus presenting substantial institutional barriers to developing combined interventions.