The launch of the Institutional Corporate University (Universidad Corporativa Institucional – UCID) forms part of the learning transformation strategy of Costa Rica’s Pension and Retirement Board of the National Teachers’ Union (Junta de Pensiones y Jubilaciones del Magisterio Nacional – JUPEMA). The UCID was established to develop workers’ knowledge and skills, strengthening both their technical and their soft skills, forming a network of internal facilitators, and innovating in teaching and learning methods.

The ACCION digital inspection report (Acta de Inspección Digital – ACCION) is an IT tool that enables the digital and automated management of a massive, centralized audit procedure, based on surveys of irregular employment relationships conducted by control bodies such as Argentina’s Federal Administration of Public Resources (Administración Federal de Ingresos Públicos – AFIP) and Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security (Ministerio de Trabajo, Empleo y Seguridad Social – MTEySS).

The Single Digital Record (Acta Digital Única – ADU) of Argentina’s Superintendency of Occupational Risks (Superintendencia de Riesgos del Trabajo – SRT) is a public instrument for ensuring that inspections comply with standards on the prevention of occupational risks in employer establishments. These inspections are carried out by over 100 SRT inspectors and 470 inspectors from the Local Labour Administrators (Administradoras de Trabajo Local – ATL) from the provincial jurisdictions.

Since its first appearance in October 2021, Brazilians have managed to get faster responses from the government’s social security institute. A new automation tool has been responsible for more than 2.5 million of automatic actions at Brazil’s National Social Security Institute (Instituto Nacional do Seguro Social − INSS).

Teachers associated with Derrama Magisterial (DM) in Peru can benefit from a number of different services, including a credit service.

This credit service offers loans to teachers. In the past, to secure a loan, the contractual process required teachers to sign documents by hand to create a credit file. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we had to find innovative ways to digitalize these contractual documents, which is why the digital file service was launched.

The Brazilian General Social Security Programme is responsible for the payment of approximately 38 million benefits monthly, reaching the amount of 11.4 billion US dollars (USD) – 58 billion Brazilian real (BRL) – paid monthly. The operation is controlled by the Brazilian National Social Security Institute (Instituto Nacional do Seguro Social – INSS), and the management of systems is carried out by DATAPREV - Social Security Information and Technology Enterprise (DATAPREV - Empresa de Tecnologia e Informações da Previdência Social).

Well-being is at the heart of Colombia’s COMPENSAR - Family Allowances Fund (COMPENSAR - Caja de Compensación Familiar). This has been a process of evolution, complemented by Amartya Sen’s theory that “you can understand a person’s well-being by analysing the quality of their life, which can be considered as a set of interrelated “functionings”, consisting of states and actions”.

The issue of population growth and social security planning is one of the biggest challenges facing governments today, and is a key part of a good social security system that instils confidence in its members.

The Retirement and Pension Fund for Employees of Banks and Related Institutions (Caja de Jubilaciones y Pensiones de Empleados de Bancos y Afines) (Bank Fund, hereinafter) is in constant communication with its members. It therefore continuously updates its databases, in order to have a better understanding of members’ current realities, experiences and needs.

In line with its mission and vision, Peru’s Derrama Magisterial (DM) is constantly striving to be the primary source of support for teachers in both their personal and professional lives.

Associated teachers make a monthly contribution that is deducted from their salary. This allows them to accumulate a pension pot that they will receive at the end of their working life. It also gives them access to monetary benefits in the event of retirement, total disability, or death.

The body’s poor assimilation of food leads to a pathological state known as malnutrition, which can take varying degrees of severity and have different clinical manifestations. It is considered a disease with high morbidity and mortality rates.

Digital transformation is happening in institutions through the integration of new technologies. This vision represents an institutional and social change, optimizing available resources, reducing costs, shortening processes and procedures, and raising awareness of the importance and benefits of this transformation.

As part of the process of becoming a flexible and digital organization, COLSUBSIDIO - Colombian Family Allowances Fund (COLSUBSIDIO - Caja Colombiana de Subsidio Familiar) implemented the digitalization of the social housing acquisition process, thereby improving the experience of beneficiaries and optimizing the time spent on the various stages. This is a strategy that contributes to reducing the carbon footprint by avoiding travel and using less paper.

The good clinical practice implemented at the Edgardo Rebagliati Martins National Hospital (Hospital Nacional Edgardo Rebagliati Martins – HNERM), part of Peru’s EsSalud - Social Health Insurance Institute (EsSalud - Seguro Social de Salud), looked to prevent complications of infections in paediatric patients with onco-haematological diseases and febrile neutropenia.

As part of the actions carried out at the Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social – IMSS) to promote equality and gender perspectives and prevent discrimination and violence, the “equal in rights, we unite for equality” (Iguales en derechos, nos unimos por la igualdad) strategy was developed jointly with the National Union of Social Security Workers (Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores del Seguro Social – SNTSS).

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Peru’s EsSalud - Social Health Insurance Institute (EsSalud - Seguro Social de Salud) was not able to provide patients with a single diagnosis of arterial hypertension with adequate check-ups due to the suspension of some services and the health regulations in place at the time. This led to an increase in hypertensive patients with diabetes mellitus (in 2020, there were 15 per cent more hypertensive patients with diabetes mellitus).

The Medical Directorate of Mexico’s State Employees’ Social Security and Social Services Institute (Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado – ISSSTE), through its National Office of Mental Health (Jefatura Nacional de Salud Mental), prioritizes the implementation of the guidelines set out in the Comprehensive Mental Health Programme (Programa Integral de Salud Mental), as approved by the Board of Directors on 25 March 2021, in order to strengthen the holistic, biopsychosocial care of its users.

The Derrama Magisterial Digital Library – CRISOL is a service that Peru’s Derrama Magisterial (DM) has made available to associated teachers, in collaboration with Librerías CRISOL
(a distinguished and recognized bookstore chain that offers a wide and varied range of cultural entertainment and the best level of service in the Peruvian market at national level). This is part of the ongoing efforts to improve the focus on teachers and identify and satisfy their needs.

Since 2021, Peru’s Derrama Magisterial (DM) has been implementing a virtual legal advice service for teachers working in educational institutions nationwide, designed to be provided free of charge.

INSSJUD is a system that sends automated communications between the assessment units of Brazil’s National Social Security Institute (Instituto Nacional do Seguro Social – INSS) and the federal and state courts. It enables rulings on social security entitlements to be executed with no manual input from an INSS official, using only the data submitted to PREVJUD, the social security information and automation service (Serviço de Informação e Automação Previdenciário), through which the judiciary sends information to the INSS.

With the publication of the agreement establishing the provisions and administrative manual on the widespread implementation of internal controls, the most recent version of which was published on 5 September 2018, the Public Services Secretariat (Secretaría de la Función Pública) established criteria on internal controls, which must be observed in areas covered by the Federal Public Administration (Administración Pública Federal).

Disseminating information on the Occupational Risk System and interacting with relevant stakeholders are two key functions of Argentina’s Superintendency of Occupational Risks (Superintendencia de Riesgos del Trabajo – SRT).

Argentina’s Superintendency of Occupational Risks (Superintendencia de Riesgos del Trabajo – SRT) has a customer service unit that provides face-to-face, telephone and online assistance on behalf of all the organization’s departments and units. This unit is responsible for answering and handling queries and claims received through a number of established channels. It also gives advice on issues related to the Occupational Risk System and the management of the Medical Commissions, helping citizens to initiate procedures within the SRT, among other things.

Since 2020, Costa Rica’s economy has been seriously affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the resultant drop in household income generating other financial needs. For this reason, the Pension and Retirement Board of the National Teachers’ Union (Junta de Pensiones y Jubilaciones del Magisterio Nacional – JUPEMA) has developed a credit line to purchase debts at very favourable conditions.

The need to care for older patients with chronic illnesses in a more human-centred and effective way inspired this good clinical practice at the Almanzor Aguinaga Asenjo National Hospital (Hospital Nacional Almanzor Aguinaga Asenjo), which is part of the Lambayeque Health Care Network (Red Prestacional Lambayeque) and Peru’s EsSalud - Social Health Insurance Institute (EsSalud - Seguro Social de Salud).

The Cordoba Retirement and Pension Fund (Caja de Jubilaciones, Pensiones y Retiros de Córdoba – CJPRC), run by Argentina’s Federal Social Insurance Council (Consejo Federal de Previsión Social – COFEPRES), underwent a management process that enabled its transformation from an institution with certain digitalized processes to a fully-fledged digital organization. This document sets out the good practices that facilitated this transformation.

Argentina’s Superintendency of Occupational Risks (Superintendencia de Riesgos del Trabajo – SRT) offers training on occupational risk prevention and the functioning of the Occupational Risk System. This training is available for workers, employers, public and private bodies, trade unions and trade associations and all levels of educational establishments, as well as any other social actor that needs this service.

The Superintendency of Health Services (Superintendencia de Servicios de Salud – SSSalud) has designed a tool to try and reduce late payments and arrears in Argentina and better manage the difficulties faced by health-care establishments in obtaining payment for services delivered.

Good practice in health – service quality.

As health-care systems have evolved to become more complex and due to the resultant increase in patients coming to harm in health care settings, patient safety has emerged as a health-care discipline.

The application of Decree-Law 56 from 13 October 2021 regulates and expands the rights of mothers working in the public sector and grants the same rights to mothers working in the private sector. This includes independent workers, members of non-agricultural cooperatives and employees of private micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises who are not subject to the general social security regime or any special regime, members of agricultural cooperatives, land users, creators, artists, technicians and support staff.

For an employee to receive financial benefits from the Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social – IMSS), their employer needs to have correctly registered them with the IMSS and they have to be paying contributions based on their actual salary. If this is not the case, their social security rights are affected and if they do not accumulate the required number of weeks of contributions, they may not meet the requirements to receive their pension.

Panama’s Social Insurance Fund (Caja de Seguro Social – CSS) has put in place operational models that use and develop new technologies to offer high-quality care to members. This is part of its vision to be a leading guarantor of social security in Panama and to ensure efficient, agile and timely management, for the benefit of Panamanian people.

As part of the efforts to modernize processes, measures must be put in place to analyse and respond to the needs of the Social Security Institute of Guatemala (Instituto Guatemalteco de Seguridad Social – IGSS), supported by objective procedures. In order to update the Institutional Medicines Register, health technology assessments have been used as a methodology to ensure informed decision-making. These assessments bring together demographic, scientific and financial variables that together are used to make objective decisions around health care coverage.

The Actuarial Advisory Office (Asesoría Actuarial) of the Social Insurance Institute (Instituto de Previsión Social – IPS) carried out an actuarial valuation of the Common Retirement and Pension Fund (Fondo Común de Jubilaciones y Pensiones). The valuation looks to comply with international best practices and observe the guidelines and standards of the International Standards of Actuarial Practice 2 (ISAP 2), and the ISSA-ILO Guidelines on Actuarial Work for Social Security, with technical support from the International Labour Organization (ILO).

The aim is to promote social security culture in Peru, with a comprehensive strategy to reach different target audiences, such as children, adolescents, young people and adults, through different content that is hosted on different sections of the ONP Cultura landing page, set up and managed by the Pension Standardization Office (Oficina de Normalización Previsional – ONP), seeking to help citizens internalize knowledge and behaviour related to social security.

In view of the declaration of the coronavirus pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the national emergency declared by Peru, the EsSalud - Social Health Insurance Institute (EsSalud - Seguro Social de Salud) proposed rapid responses to tackle the challenge of insufficient hospital infrastructure in order to protect lives and offer healthcare services during a health emergency.

This good practice was first introduced in July 2020 and rapidly became a key management tool, especially against the background of growing needs as a result of the pandemic.

The EsSalud - Social Health Insurance Institute (EsSalud - Seguro Social de Salud) of Peru is a critical actor with regard to the COVID-19 pandemic, as it watches over the well-being of nearly 12 million insured persons. The information produced by the recently created Business Intelligence and Data Analytics Unit (Unidad de Inteligencia y Análisis de Datos – UIAD) has underpinned the strategic, tactical and operational decisions of EsSalud’s senior management and other entities, as well as other aspects of the institutional response to the health emergency.

The quality of health services is an urgent necessity in order to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. Although it is estimated that up to 80 per cent of the people who become infected only exhibit mild symptoms, the primary challenge facing health systems is in dealing with moderate or severe manifestations that require hospital care.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the requirements of the services responsible for providing care during said pandemic, the Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social – IMSS) implemented a data governance strategy designed to provide key areas with valuable information on aspects such as health, staff management, training and the monitoring of materials and supplies The aim is to facilitate decision-making through a single information source.

In line with its mission and vision, Peru’s Derrama Magisterial (DM) continuously aspires to be a central source of support for teachers, providing a variety of DM services and informing them about social security issues.

In order to achieve this, the organizational structure of the social security unit includes different staff members who offer associated teachers guidance, registration support, and advice from the moment they join the DM until the moment they leave.

The Social Security Institute of Guatemala (Instituto Guatemalteco de Seguridad Social – IGSS) presents the good practice of automating the Annual Operational Planning (Planificación Operativa Anual – POA) through the implementation of the Annual Operational Planning Tool (Herramienta de Planificación Operativa Anual – HPOA).

The information technology (IT) service of the Social Insurance Bank (Banco de Previsión Social – BPS) of Uruguay has developed a robot – its aim is to automate, speed up and enhance the efficiency of processes for receiving requests for help, with regard to IT issues and/or citizen applications concerning benefits at moments when the institute’s call centre is experiencing high demand or is overwhelmed (i.e. the current pandemic, tax responsibilities falling due or the issuance of new benefits, etc.).

In March 2020, the Social Insurance Fund of Costa Rica (Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social – CCSS) consolidated an innovative automated tool for tracking the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic among the population and the relevant care provided in the CCSS’s health establishments.

Intelligent health analytics solutions were developed for the clinical and administrative management of services, with timely, high-quality information in means accessible by decision-makers, thereby boosting the effectiveness of the management of the pandemic and other pathologies.

With a view to determining the results of the alignment and performance of the Strategic Institutional Plan (Plan Estratégico Institucional – PEI) of the Social Insurance Fund of Costa Rica (Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social – CCSS), the annual evaluation for 2019 was conducted as a learning process and for the continuous improvement of management.

The pandemic that recently hit the entire world has changed our ways of working, generating a significant negative impact on people’s health in both the world of work and everyday life. Added to this are the economic difficulties that countries are currently experiencing worldwide.

The National Scientific Research Committee (Comité Nacional de Investigación Científica - CNIC) of the Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social – IMSS) aims to evaluate, record and monitor health research protocols that meet the requirements for consideration.

In 2017 the IMSS launched the Electronic Research Record System (Sistema de Registro Electrónico de Investigación - SIRELCIS) in order to reduce the time needed to evaluate research protocols submitted to the CNIC for review.

Like most of the world’s countries, Paraguay has adopted lockdown measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. These steps taken by the government have impacted the productive sector, leading to mass suspensions of employment contracts for persons insured with the Social Insurance Institute (Instituto de Previsión Social – IPS) of Paraguay.

The Virtual Medical Consultation (Teleconsultation) offered by the Ecuadorian Social Security Institute (Instituto Ecuatoriano de Seguridad Social – IESS) is a system which uses information and communication technology to provide health care led by specialist health professionals, as well as to exchange medical information electronically in order to help patients who are not able to attend a consultation in person.

Due to its federal structure, Argentina has a wide array of national, provincial, municipal, and professional social security systems, which coexist autonomously nationwide. At the same time, various complementary social security bodies have been created across the country.

As the regulations that govern Argentina’s social security system are fragmented, the different schemes within the system must use institutional channels to ensure continuous dialogue. This helps to provide citizens with a coordinated and transparent social security system throughout the national territory.

Argentina’s Federal Social Insurance Council (Consejo Federal de Previsión Social – COFEPRES) needs to reduce the growing backlog of pending pension and retirement readjustment cases. In 2020, the administrative system was redesigned and a new way of working was implemented. This made the organizational structure more flexible and helped to adopt an interdisciplinary approach to deal with each case.

As a result of the SARS-CoV-2 health crisis, the Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social – IMSS) introduced an initiative to provide training for and consolidate know-how among nursing staff caring for patients diagnosed with COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed an enormous challenge for health systems, particularly with regard to the expansion of healthcare capacity, with a focus on beds in intensive care units (ICUs) and the mechanical ventilators required to equip them.

To cope with this problem, the Mutual for Safety CChC and the TECCAP-TPI Engineering Consortium formed an alliance to develop emergency mechanical ventilators designed, manufactured and validated at the national level.

In line with its mission and vision, Peru’s Derrama Magisterial (DM) is constantly striving to be the primary source of support for teachers, offering them a social welfare programme that gives them access to the institution’s various services, as well as support throughout their teaching career and a significant retirement fund at the end of their working life. Teachers have access to these benefits after voluntarily joining the DM.

The National Institute of Social Security (INSS) of Brazil – a body responsible for analyzing requests for social security benefits in Brazil – in recent years was faced with a reduction in its staff due to retirements, changes in legislation, and economic crises that increased the body’s demand. The same happened with the number of appeals and the volume of diligences the body is responsible for.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the laryngoscope is an essential instrument within clinical practice for the intubation or insertion of endotracheal tubes, including in patients with COVID-19.

When the COVID-19 pandemic was declared by the World Health Organization (WHO), in El Salvador the Directorate General of the Salvadoran Social Security Institute (Instituto Salvadoreño del Seguro Social – ISSS) put forward a new form of care. This was authorized by the ISSS board in agreement No. 2020-0651 ABR. This made it possible to implement virtual care through telemedicine, known as Dr. ISSS en línea (Dr. ISSS online).

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed a challenge as the world has had to face situations unthinkable at a time when global technology and communication are distinctive elements of society. As in the past, solutions for fighting the disease have included lockdown, social distancing, quarantine and the use of personal protective equipment (PPE).

The Social Insurance Bank (Sociale Verzekeringsbank – SIB) of Curaçao is determined to collect healthcare treatment outcome data in a structured way. This will amongst others be achieved by embedding mandatory feedback reporting to the General Practitioner (GP) as part of the medical billing process. In tandem, referral providers can optionally appraise the quality of the referral notes from the GP’s. In doing so, the SIB will be able to interpret and analyze heterogeneous treatment outcome data on an unprecedented large scale.

The project for the execution of the Auxílio Emergencial (Emergency aid), created by Law No. 13,982, of 2 April 2020, with the objective of guaranteeing minimum income to Brazilians in a vulnerable situation during the COVID-19 pandemic, allowed more than 100 million people to be assisted by public policy in a timely manner.

Social security will remain subject to continuous change owing to the economic, political, social and demographic circumstances which not only impact its environment and development but also constitute management challenges.

By taking up this challenge, the current administration of the Social Insurance Fund (Caja de Seguro Social – CSS) of Panama, through its strategic planning and objectives, has created an opportunity to optimize the ongoing quality, efficiency and sustainability of health services.

To help meet the protection needs of chronic patients and older adults of the Social Insurance Fund of Costa Rica (Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social – CCSS) in the COVID-19 context and to avoid them having to travel to the health establishment to ensure their adherence to treatment, the following strategies were promoted:

As of 2022, the Salvadoran Social Security Institute (Instituto Salvadoreño del Seguro Social – ISSS) in El Salvador has 12 palliative care home support teams nationwide, four of which deal with the most complex cases. The teams are distributed across a variety of care networks.

Mexico’s State Employees’ Social Security and Social Services Institute (Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado – ISSSTE) has a large proportion of beneficiaries over the age of 70 – nearly 3 million out of a total of 13.5 million. There is a need, therefore, for a specific strategy to provide care for them and offer them the best possible protection in combating the COVID-19 epidemic.

The epidemic caused by coronavirus (COVID-19) in other countries at the start of 2020 highlighted the need to prepare an institutional response to face this threat, aggravated by a lack of information and uncertainty surrounding the extent of the risk posed to beneficiaries.

Derrama Magisterial (DM), Peru’s welfare and social security institution for teachers in public education, offers online courses to ensure the continuity of training services for teachers after face-to-face events were suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the aim of providing the medical staff of Mexico’s State Employees’ Social Security and Social Services Institute (Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado – ISSSTE) with relevant information to help them tackle the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) epidemic, a decision was made to draft operational prevention and care guides for patients infected with the virus and for other activities relating to care for beneficiaries in this context.

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed new challenges. At the Brazil’s National Social Security Institute (Instituto Nacional do Seguro Social – INSS), in-person services were suspended on 20 March 2020.

Prior to this, the INSS had already adjusted its service capacity to take account of a reduction in personnel, increased demand for its services, the overloading of its call centre (telephone number: 135) and the pension reform, among other factors.

In accordance with the health emergency decreed by the government and with state policies, our mutual fund, the Catholic Workers’ Circle of the Uruguay Mutual Fund (Círculo Católico de Obreros del Uruguay Mutualista), has since mid-March, been implementing a strategic plan to combat and control the COVID-19 pandemic.

Certain actions have been carried out to minimise the risk to the institution’s workers.

In line with its mission and vision, Peru’s Derrama Magisterial (DM) is constantly striving to be the primary source of support for teachers, allowing them to build up a significant retirement fund for the end of their working life. This fund offers fundamental support for both teachers and their families in the event of their death.

The project “Implementing the “Active Breaks” programme in the Human Talent Management Unit at the San Juan de Dios Hospital” of Costa Rica is being presented to the International Social Security Association (ISSA), as the results obtained have shown that the integral health of staff is key to their performance and fosters an ideal state of well-being, given that the correct balance was struck between physical, emotional, biological, work and social factors.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the potential increase in unemployment that will be brought about by the almost certain recession that will follow, the Government of Grenada (GOG) announced a series of stimulus measures including the introduction of an Unemployment Assistance Benefit (UAB) programme to be administered by the National Insurance Board (NIB) in the amount of 10 million East Caribbean dollars (XCD). The UAB administered by the NIB will cater to insured employees and self -employed persons who are affected.

The mission of Peru’s Derrama Magisterial (DM) is to support and guide teachers throughout the digital transformation of its processes. For this reason, we have defined our key strategy as having staff members who are trained to assist teachers in the use of the digital applications, as well as to raise awareness of the benefits of belonging to the digital era, through the use of modern and agile technological tools.

Law No. 27.546 on the reform of the special schemes for magistrates and Argentina’s Judiciary and Foreign Office officials is part of the initiatives promoted by the Argentinian Government in order to reinforce the redistributive and fair nature of the pension system, considering the various schemes that it comprises as a single system.

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Executive Office (Poder Ejecutivo Nacional – PEN) created, by Decree 310/2020, the Emergency Family Income (Ingreso Familiar de Emergencia − IFE), a non-contributory benefit of an exceptional nature. The recipients are households composed of casual workers, unemployed people, workers in private homes and those taxed under the regime for small taxpayers from the lowest categories.

The Santa Fe Retirement and Pension Fund (Caja de Jubilaciones y pensiones de la Provincia de Santa Fe) is part of Argentina’s Federal Social Insurance Council (Consejo Federal de Previsión Social – COFEPRES). It is an autonomous (federal state of government), public, pay-as-you-go and solidarity-based social security body. It administers and manages pensions and retirement benefits, providing protection in relation to old age, disability, and death.

The National Social Security Institute (Instituto Nacional do Seguro Social – INSS) created a virtual assistant during the pandemic, in response to the challenge of providing the population of Brazil continued access to services and information without having to leave their homes.

The pandemic, which began in 2019 with the spread of the infectious disease caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) has proved a challenge for all the social security institutions in the world. The pandemic has required the establishment of social protection mechanisms for the whole population, particularly the most vulnerable groups – older adults, people with chronic diseases, etc.

The pandemic created significant social pressure in terms of access to pension and health services in Peru. Faced with this situation, 47 years after the creation of the National Pension System (Sistema Nacional de Pensiones – SNP), the Pension Standardization Office (Oficina de Normalización Previsional – ONP) has been pushing to change and improve regulations, in order to make the conditions more flexible and extend social security coverage.

Extra-hospital care is defined as care provided in a setting outside the health establishment, either via telephone medical assistance or at the patient’s home.

The Secretariat for Social Security (Secretaría de Seguridad Social - MTEySS) presented the improvements introduced to Unemployment Insurance as good practice, in the context of the health emergency declared in Argentina due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These improvements include the extension of coverage and the increase in the money paid as Unemployment Insurance for its current beneficiaries, as well as the implementation of the remote processing of applications, to facilitate access for those who are unemployed and are eligible for the benefit.

In the context of the public health crisis provoked by the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, Argentina’s Superintendency of Occupational Risks (Superintendencia de Riesgos del Trabajo – SRT) was faced with the challenge of designing and implementing virtual mechanisms that would enable the processing of files that had, prior to the national lockdown, only been possible to process in person.

Chapter II of Law No.

Argentina’s Superintendency of Health Services (Superintendencia de Servicios de Salud – SSSalud) ensures that citizens can freely exercise their right to switch between social security organizations. This system has been in place since 1998.

The COVID-19 pandemic marked a “before” and “after” regarding how public services are accessed. As an institution, Peru’s Pension Standardization Office (Oficina de Normalización Previsional – ONP) had to reinvent itself and take on the challenge of digital transformation, promoting an omnichannel approach, with new platforms and channels used to offer more and better services.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made life more difficult and more expensive for seniors across Canada. To support seniors during these challenging times, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) has introduced a one time tax-free payment of 300 Canadian dollars (CAD) for seniors eligible for the Old Age Security (OAS) pension, with an additional tax free payment of CAD 200 for seniors eligible for the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS). Near-seniors eligible for an Allowance will also receive CAD 500.

In accordance with its mission and vision, Derrama Magisterial (DM) of Peru constantly endeavours to become a mainstay for teachers, offering a social well-being programme that gives teaching staff access to the institution’s various services and guarantees them a large retirement fund at the end of their working life.

The “Oxygen at Home” (Oxígeno en Casa) system of Mexico’s State Employees’ Social Security and Social Services Institute (Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado – ISSSTE) is a technological tool that manages the prescription of home oxygen to eligible patients. It also provides monthly monitoring of how the service is being delivered in all medical units with a view to strengthening this health insurance service that protects, promotes and restores health, thereby improving patients’ quality of life.

Paraguay’s Social Insurance Institute (Instituto de Previsión de Social – IPS) used to make sick leave payments at its administrative offices, which had associated administrative costs and meant beneficiaries had to visit the IPS service counter in person.

The economic, social and health emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in compulsory isolation as a preventive measure to stop the disease spreading among the population, with special emphasis on protecting older adults as the most vulnerable group.

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the social isolation measures established by the National Executive Office (Poder Ejecutivo Nacional – PEN), Argentina’s National Social Security Administration (Administración Nacional de la Seguridad Social – ANSES) incorporated the Virtual Assistance system to handle applications remotely (Resolution 94/2020).

The Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social – IMSS) developed the online education platform “IMSS Massive Online Courses” (Cursos en Línea Masivos del IMSS - CLIMSS) to promote health education to its beneficiaries and the general public. The aim was to disseminate knowledge that would improve the health of the population.

This new service allows citizens to make submissions and/or send communications digitally using their fiscal password, without having to visit a branch office.

The system was created to facilitate secure, paperless and dynamic communication with citizens.

It allows monitoring and intervention from the moment a case is entered until it is closed, and each case has a record showing all the departments involved and the actions taken.

Argentina’s Superintendency of Occupational Risks (Superintendencia de Riesgos del Trabajo – SRT) has a project named Prevention 4.0, which consists of analysing and studying technological tools that can be implemented in the workplace to prevent work accidents or occupational diseases.

Preventive management at work establishes the aim of protecting workers, based on the Occupational Accidents and Diseases Act (Act 16.744 of 1968).

Today, around the world, we are dealing with a COVID-19 pandemic. Many countries are affected, including Chile, with great problems keeping people, including workers, safe and maintaining continuity of operations for businesses.

Pressure sores are a major public health issue. They have personal consequences, as they diminish the quality of life of those subjected to healing, the administration of antibiotics, prolongation of hospital stays and socioeconomic repercussions in general.

The users of San Juan de Dios Hospital of the Social Insurance Fund of Costa Rica (Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social – CCSS) come from rural and urban areas, and include the indigenous population. The total population is 1,152,539 persons.

The telephone assistance programme established by the Mexican State Employees’ Social Security and Social Services Institute (Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado – ISSSTE) provides prompt and timely care to its beneficiaries regarding the epidemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus (COVID-19).

In the light of the experiences of countries in Asia and Europe, brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the need arose to establish strategies to address social security systems, aimed at maximising the available resource provisions, in the face of a demand that collapses health systems, thereby increasing the number of deaths.

The Medical Directorate of Mexico’s State Employees’ Social Security and Social Services Institute (Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado – ISSSTE) has recently implemented a robotic therapist mental health programme. The programme is delivered with the help of “LaLuchy Robotina”, the humanoid robot, and provides care to hospitalized patients, their families and health-care staff.

The project Escuta (escuta means “to listen” in Portuguese) of the National Institute of Social Security (Instituto Nacional do Seguro Social – INSS) was conceived and developed by a team from the southern region of Brazil, the Health and Quality of Life at Work team, to meet the needs of employees who, in the context of COVID-19 pandemic, have to observe social distancing to perform their professional activities.

From the beginning of the pandemic, the Medical Directorate of Mexico’s State Employees’ Social Security and Social Services Institute (Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado – ISSSTE), rolled out Project Harley “El Tuerto” (The one-eyed dog), the world’s only intervention providing emotional support and humanitarian assistance through canine therapy to health personnel working in COVID-19 care with a view to reducing their psychological stress.