The right to social health protection is not yet a universal reality. Despite the progress made during the COVID-19 pandemic, coverage has stalled since 2020, highlighting important implementation gaps.

This self-paced course "Introduction to Social Health Protection" offers an overview to fundamental concepts underpinning social health protection, in the context of national social protection systems and floors. You will learn about and the role of social health protection in achieving universal health coverage (UHC) and universal social protection (USP) within the framework of the 2030 Agenda.

This self-guided course aims to broaden knowledge of social health protection among professionals working on social protection or public health at the local, national or international levels. The main objective is for participants to acquire fundamental knowledge of key principles and concepts informing the design and implementation of social health protection schemes at the national level. 

This course is only a first step in the ITCILO offer to build the competencies of individuals engaged in social health protection around the world, setting participants on a longer learning path towards progressively strengthening their competencies in this domain.

• Executives;
• Managers;
• Planners;
• Financial officers;
• Researchers and academics with an interest in universal social protection and/or universal health coverage;
• Representatives of employers’ and workers’ organisations;
• Other civil society representatives;
• Professionals working for international organizations;
• Industrial relations experts and practitioners, labour lawyers;
• Anyone interested in gaining an introductory overview of social health protection.

• The global status quo on social health protection coverage
• International standards underpinning social health protection
• Guiding principles for a rights-based approach to social health protection
• Key functions of social health protection
• The importance of the universality of coverage
• The ILO’s two-dimensional strategy to extending coverage
• The concept of risk pooling
• Sustainable financing mechanisms

• Define and frame social health protection within international norms and social security standards.
• Recognize the different levels of protection offered by the international standards as they apply to social health protection.
• Apply the guiding principles to inform your assessment of social health protection schemes where you are.
• Discern the difference between legal and effective coverage and how this applies to social health protection.
• Identify core functions in social health protection.
• Assess a range of financing options for social health protection schemes, and their implications.
• Understand the concept of risk pooling and how it may apply to social health protection in your national context.
• Lay the foundation for continued learning in social health protection through further ITCILO courses.

• Assess your current knowledge level.
• Complete the four self-paced modules and the related quizzes to earn your Certificate of Participation.
• Explore how you can further enhance and develop your skills with the other ITCILO courses on social protection and social health protection.