In the Americas, diverse long-term care (LTC) systems reflect varying regional needs and capabilities. This article examines LTC systems in Argentina, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica and Uruguay providing a detailed description of health and social care services available to their aging populations.

Quality of service has been a constant commitment of social security institutions, knowing that user satisfaction shapes citizens' perception, experience and trust in public services. This article shows how institutions have implemented approaches outlined in the ISSA Guidelines on Service Quality and highlights the importance of providing quality services that are user-centred to generate greater value for members.

A sizeable portion of the work force in the Americas engages in the platform economy, whether as a main or supplementary source of income. This article presents reforms and developments in the region that already have had, or that may have, an impact on the employment status and social protection of platform workers.

There is no single strategy towards digital transformation in social security institutions. This article shows how, through different approaches, institutions in the Americas have been able to move from an initial digitization of processes and services to a broader and more agile strategy of digital transformation, breaking paradigms and operating models.

Innovative capacity is a key enabler of a better social security. Building innovation friendly institutions and integrating innovation in organizational processes requires strategic vision, leadership and a commitment to promote creativity and collaboration across units and teams.

As social security institutions expand digital services, they are gearing up towards customer-centric design and agile methodologies for people-oriented service delivery. This articles introduces recent practices, highlights the importance of design-thinking and agile approaches and points to barriers and facilitating factors.

Rehabilitation is a core issue for individuals and social security. Having already been brought to the forefront in the context of ageing societies, the COVID-19 pandemic has further accentuated the important role of rehabilitation, as many coronavirus patients require help to get back to a normal life and work. Rehabilitation programmes that are based on a holistic approach combining care, return-to-work and social benefits, whilst improving cooperation between different actors, have emerged as most promising to effectively meet increasing rehabilitation needs.

Social security evasion and fraud issues have high social and economic cost, create imbalances in social security accounts and ultimately lead to economic distortions that are not favourable to the functioning and competitiveness of the national economy. They also have a political impact because they undermine the reputation of the institutions that administer the social security programmes. It is estimated that evasion and fraud cause a 3 to 5 per cent income shortfall in social security systems and amount to up to 2 per cent of the gross domestic product of OECD countries (RAND Europe, 2014). These figures are likely to be higher in countries with less formal economies.

No one could have imagined nor anticipated the global disruptions that happened in 2020. For many social security institutions, the severe health risks and safety protocols of the pandemic required a seismic shift of operations to digital technologies. In one fell swoop, teleworking, online platforms and mobile apps replaced the face-to-face, paper-based transactions of social security. The blending of human insight with digital technologies is the ace in the sleeve of every chief executive officer (CEO). Through an astute blending of human-and-digital solutions, social security continues to deliver on its mandate by ably navigating the first and succeeding waves of the pandemic.

The closure of childcare centres and schools resulting from the COVID-19 lockdown measures has imposed a heavy strain on families, both on the children and their parents, and especially the mothers. The pandemic exposed yet again the preponderance of women in childcare and housework, raising once more the serious challenges of gender equality, women’s rights to social security as well as their financial security and overall well-being (Doucet, Mathieu and McKay 2020, p. 277).