Many countries in the region and around the world, have shown that it is possible to extend financial health protection in low and middle income settings, despite limited fiscal resources. These experiences serve as examples to understand and highlight some of the factors indispensable for such achievements and to leave no one behind, including sustained political and financial commitment. Leveraging on regional and global experiences by producing and sharing evidence on success stories, good practices or lessons learned is one of CONNECTs’ pillars to bridge the knowledge gaps in social health protection.
CONNECT’s objective is to support countries in producing evidence and knowledge on health protection to:
- inform national social health protection policies, strategies and programs to improve access to essential health care services, reduce inequalities and enhance financial health protection;
- feed global knowledge database.
Here is a selection of research produced through the CONNECT network:
Extending social health protection: Accelerating progress towards Universal Health Coverage in Asia and the Pacific: This publication provides a comparative analysis of social health protection in Asia and the Pacific across the dimensions of coverage, adequacy, institutional efficiency and financing arrangements, including 21 country profiles showing the diversity of contexts.
Labour rights and social protection coverage for domestic workers in ASEAN: The report delves into the current state of labour and social protection for domestic workers in ASEAN, offering a comprehensive analysis of existing policies.
Access to social health protection for persons with disabilities in Cambodia, Lao PDR and Viet Nam (forthcoming): This report explores the extent to which persons with disabilities in Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Viet Nam can access social health protection, based on interviews with around 300 persons with disabilities across the three countries.
In addition CONNECT foster exchanges of experience through webinars. Access to recordings here:
Regional Conference on Extending Social Health Protection in the Asia Pacific Region towards Universal Health Coverage: The event featured the launch of the ILO publication “Extending Social Health Protection: Accelerating Progress Towards Universal Health Coverage in Asia and the Pacific” and includes an exchange of experiences on strategies for expanding social health protection across the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.
ILO-ISSA Webinar: Long-term care in the context of population ageing in Asia: This webinar explores the challenges and opportunities of meeting long-term care needs in Asia’s ageing populations, with speakers from countries with advanced policies like Japan and South Korea and developing policies like Vietnam.
Equity in Health for All: Advancing Social Health Protection for Persons with Disabilities:
The webinar shared insights from the Connect Network Joint Research on access to social health protection for persons with disabilities in Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Viet Nam. It highlighted legal and operational barriers and proposed strategies to bridge coverage gaps, aiming for more inclusive social health protection systems.