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) is implementing a training initiative, entitled “Public Service and Quality of Care: Towards a new ISSSTE” (El Servicio Público y la Calidad en la Atención: Por un nuevo ISSSTE), aimed at security personnel in medical units who play a key role in caring for service users.

“CCSS 2041: Looking to the Future” (CCSS 2041: “Una Mirada al Futuro”) is a prospective document put together by the Social Insurance Fund of Costa Rica (Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social – CCSS) to support decision-making and act as a reference for strategic, tactical and operational planning. The document explores potential future scenarios in order to anticipate, adapt to and influence changes in the environment and the needs of the population.

Risk management is the process of identifying, analysing, accepting, mitigating or transferring uncertainty in investment decisions. Fund managers apply risk management by analysing and attempting to quantify the potential loss of an investment and then acting accordingly.

As a direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) of the National Insurance Board (NIB) from Grenada has established a web portal which enables its valued customers to apply for every benefit type and file requests with its offices via purely electronic means. This is an alternative to the status quo which previously allowed solely for the physical completion and submission of forms. The introduction of the web portal has led to a reduction in paper submissions and walk-in customers by over 85 per cent and 65 per cent respectively.

The Social Insurance Fund of Costa Rica (Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social – CCSS) has established, as part of its strategic axes, a person-centered focus on health, well-being and socioeconomic protection by facilitating people’s access to digital services.

It also aims to ensure that people play a leading role in managing their health, by actively participating in decision-making and improving the quality of services.

As part of the roll-out of health coverage to the entire Togolese population – an estimated 10 million people – Togo’s National Institute of Health Insurance (Institut nationale d’assurance maladie – INAM) set out to provide rapid access to health care facilities to insured persons across the country.

The creation of artificial skin is an innovative technological development that has the potential to revolutionize the education and learning process. It is a tool with a new and exciting approach that makes it possible to create realistic and authentic products that imitate the feel of human skin. This is particularly important in health education where students need to have a deep understanding of the functioning of the human body.

This project is an initiative of the health benefits division, with a view to ensuring the comprehensive health care of Social Security Institute of Guatemala (Instituto Guatemalteco de Seguridad Social – IGSS) employees.

The project aims to remove the stigma surrounding mental health and to address the main psychosocial risks among IGSS employees through the provision of ongoing training on topics related to mental health and psychosocial stress factors. It provides spaces for reflection and analysis on experiences and interpersonal relationships in the workplace.

The National Social Security Institute (Instituto Nacional do Seguro Social – INSS) through an ordinance of the Ministry of Social Security (MSS) of Brazil, changed the proof of life process for INSS’ beneficiaries. Since 1 January 2023, the insured person does not need to leave the house and prove that he is alive to continue receiving the benefit.

Panama’s Social Insurance Fund (Caja de Seguro Social – CSS) has launched a course on “Social security for all” and has made it available to the entire population of Panama.

The “Social security for all” (Seguridad social para todos) course is aimed at the institution’s employees and is in fact part of the induction process for new employees. However, everyone should understand social security because social security is a human right. Consequently, the institution’s challenge is to provide everyone with this knowledge.

Members of the Social Security Institute of Guatemala (Instituto Guatemalteco de Seguridad Social – IGSS) who are entitled to benefits under the Sickness, Maternity and Accident Programme (Programa de Enfermedad, Maternidad y Accidentes) and on leave from work due to COVID-19 receive a subsidy payment to substitute the salary they would otherwise receive, proportional to the measures outlined in the corresponding regulations.

People with disabilities are one of society’s most excluded groups and usually have the most difficulties in accessing health, education, employment, and social security. Current policies are either not inclusive, or are still in the initial stages, and thus do not protect the rights of this group. We need rules and regulations that support us in taking action to better protect their rights. Even more importantly, we need to properly understand their needs in order to provide quality care.

Panama’s Social Insurance Fund (Caja de Seguro Social de Panamá – CSS) has put in place operational models that use and develop new communication technologies through mobile devices 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.

With a view to promoting safe and healthy working environments and ensuring that Occupational Risk Insurance Companies (Aseguradoras de Riesgos del Trabajo – ART) and Self-insured Employers (Empleadores Autoasegurados – EA) provide medical care and financial benefits in the event of occupational accidents or diseases, Argentina’s Superintendency of Occupational Risks (Superintendencia de Riesgos del Trabajo – SRT) handles a large volume of information and documents that need to be processed and analysed on a continuous basis.

The institution does not have any automatic mechanism to inform it of the death of a citizen outside of the country. This is why beneficiaries living outside of the country are obliged to submit proof of life in order to avoid the suspension of their benefit payments.

In Chile, over 300,000 people currently work as deliverers for digital platforms, known as deliverys or riders. This new way of working poses new challenges related to the protection of this group of workers, as they generally operate in precarious conditions and the level of occupational risk they are exposed to is quite high.

The competition is aimed at rewarding the best initiatives and professional practices in the field of occupational safety and health (OSH) among students in vocational and technical training. This initiative of the Social Security Fund (Caisse de sécurité sociale – CSS) of Senegal is reserved for students and aimed at raising the awareness of future workers and employers, while also creating a dynamic of reflection and sharing in the field of OSH.

The works are evaluated by a jury according to criteria based on:

As part of the process to develop the Retirement Savings System (SAR) for the benefit of working people, the general provisions to which Retirement Fund Administrators must adhere in relation to their outreach staff were modified in February 2022, creating the role of Pension Advisor. Their main objective will be to advise and manage procedures and services related to workers’ retirement savings accounts, in order to encourage account registration and promote voluntary savings.

Publishing open data is an important practice to strengthen citizens’ trust in their institutions. It facilitates access to information and creates the necessary conditions to improve the quality of public services. In this context, social security institutions must ensure the reliability of data and provide accessible spaces to generate value for the public while also guaranteeing the confidentiality of personal data.

In the pursuit of its paperless policy, the National Social Security Fund for the Non-Salaried Workers (Caisse nationale de la sécurité sociale des non-salariés – CASNOS) of Algeria re-engineered its electronic records management system using state-of-the-art technologies.

This new, modern, universal system has quickly become a cornerstone of digital transformation by interacting with all of the fund's legacy systems.

Recognizing the fact that the world is a global village, prioritizing our valued pensioners for whom we exist to serve and acknowledging the fact that they reside throughout the world, we aim to level the playing field for all. Coming out of COVID-19, its lockdown and limitation of access to several services the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) of the National Insurance Board (NIB) from Grenada has recognized the fact that this requirement can and will be difficult for people, especially if physical, medical, geographical, and other challenges exist.

Safe and healthy work environments (Entornos laborales seguros y saludables – ELSSA) is a free, voluntary and non-punitive programme from the Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social – IMSS) that aims to foster three-way coordination and participation between companies, workers and the IMSS. It looks to implement strategies and actions to improve the health, safety and wellbeing of workers in workplaces, while at the same time promoting productivity and quality.

The National Social Security Authority (NSSA, hereafter the Authority) of Zimbabwe has launched internet kiosks at each of the regional offices spread across the country. The members and employers who do not have access to internet and gadgets that facilitate access to internet, can visit the offices and have access to the NSSA self-service portal.

In 2022, the Beneficiary Services Unit (Unidad de Atención a la Derechohabiencia – UAD) of the Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social – IMSS) put together a cross-cutting strategy with specific lines of action to improve and prioritize user request management, in order to prevent complaints.

In addition, we looked to use information gathered through the strategy to improve care quality in IMSS medical and administrative units and make strategic visits to the units with the highest number of complaints nationwide.

The good clinical practice of Hospital II Lima Norte Callao Luis Negreiros Vega – part of the Sabogal service network of Peru’s EsSalud - Social Health Insurance Institute (EsSalud - Seguro Social de Salud) – aimed to prevent respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases in hospitalized newborns.

To this end, we established an innovative model of care that disrupted the traditional neonatal-care model. Health professionals working in the neonatal unit were trained to promote exclusive breastfeeding and to ensure that colostrum was expressed within an hour of childbirth.

The medical record system is a solution that has allowed the Mexican Social Security Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social – IMSS) to move from having isolated information models at the three levels of care to having an integrated automated model. This makes it easier for doctors to access a patient’s medical record during a consultation, regardless of the practice, medical unit, care level or city in which the patient received previous medical care.

Peru’s Derrama Magisterial (DM) was created to provide social benefits to teachers in Peru. Teachers are at the core of everything the DM does, and since it was founded, the organization has aspired to provide ongoing excellent services to teachers, in compliance with its mission and vision.

Teachers are constantly looking for streamlined services that can be accessed wherever they are and whenever they need them. The COVID-19 pandemic prompted the DM to deploy a set of initiatives that would enable it to meet teachers’ needs with the support of new technology.

In order to sustain a sufficient and independent social security programme, the National Social Security Fund for the Non-Salaried Workers (Caisse nationale de sécurité sociale des non-salariés – CASNOS, hereafter the Fund) from Algeria has always been faced with the everlasting challenge of maintaining a positive balance, in the present and the future, between its expenses and its main income from contribution collection.

This work aims to present the National Social Security Institute (Instituto Nacional do Seguro Social − INSS) of Brazil Mentoring Programme, instituted on 20 April 2021, through the Ordinance INSS/PRES No. 1295/2021.

The programme was designed and instituted to manage knowledge at the INSS, value public servants who reach the institution’s goals and support public servants who do not reach their goals.

Uruguay’s Social Insurance Bank (Banco de Previsión Social – BPS) manages the National System of Labour Certification, (Sistema Nacional de Certificación Laboral – SNCL), which centralizes the register of medical leave certificates for active workers for social security purposes.

To qualify its employees, the National Social Security Institute (Instituto Nacional do Seguro Social – INSS) of Brazil has opened an internal selection for 125 vacancies in master’s courses and 180 vacancies in MBA’s courses at the Getulio Vargas Foundation (Fundação Getulio Vargas – FGV).

The National Social Security Institute (Instituto Nacional do Seguro Social − INSS) of Brazil, is annually responsible for millions of analyses of requirements related to social security benefits, assistance and services requested by the Brazilian population. While some of these requirements are automated, human analysis is essential for more complex requirements or when not all information is available in the institutional systems.

New theories have emerged for the addressing and managing of risks, which help to categorize them based on the type of organization in question. In addition, standards and methodological tools have been established to determine control and monitoring actions that measure and proactively address the impact of these potential risks. All of this has led the Social Insurance Fund of Costa Rica (Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social – CCSS) to take comprehensive steps to address the risks to which it is exposed.

In view of the pandemic and the closure of social security agencies, with the consequent stoppage of face-to-face assistance, mainly affecting medical expertise, the Federal Court of Accounts ordered the Ministry of Social Security (Ministério da Previdência – MTP), of Brazil to carry out the expertise through tele-medicine.

“Mi trabajo” (My work) is a service for mobile phones or devices that can be accessed through the “Mi Argentina” (My Argentina) app. Its aim is to provide employees with information on their current employment situation. Through the app, people in employment can learn whether they are being registered correctly.

The service also offers the possibility to file complaints with Argentina’s Federal Administration of Public Resources (Administración Federal de Ingresos Públicos – AFIP) in the event that the employee user observes any irregularities.

The virtual web-based assistant of the IPS National Social Insurance Fund (IPS Caisse nationale de prévoyance sociale – IPS CNPS) was launched in May 2022. Available on the institution’s website for insured persons, whether employees, employers or self-employed workers, this assistant is the new on-demand advisor. In the space of a few clicks, it gives the insured person information on the modalities and payment of social security contributions and guides them through their claims and document requests.

The idea of setting up self-service areas in Pension Fund of Morocco (Caisse marocaine des retraites – CMR) receptions stems from a desire to offer users open access to the CMR’s digital services, while ensuring reception and orientation staff are on hand to provide support and guidance in their use.

This type of space offers a range of digital services, enabling users, for example, to access their data, monitor the status of their files, and editing or uploading requested documents.

Open Lab is an innovation space created by the Pension Fund of Morocco (Caisse marocaine des retraites – CMR), based on an ecosystem-oriented business model. It relies on the collective intelligence of participants (collaborators, users, partners and other stakeholders) to design and test innovative solutions to the “pain points” encountered by users and/or to develop new services or products, improve internal processes and implement new methodology.

Article 12 of Law No. 5508 on the Promotion, Protection of Maternity and Support for Breastfeeding establishes that maternity allowance should be paid to employed women by the social security scheme of Paraguay’s Social Insurance Institute (Instituto de Previsión Social – IPS). This amount is equivalent to 100 per cent of her salary at the time of delivery, and is paid for the prescribed months of rest. This used to be given to women in a single payment.

The project looked to implement an ICT system to allow information to be shared electronically between the social security body of Argentina’s Federal Social Insurance Council (Consejo Federal de Previsión Social – COFEPRES), the Retirement and Pension Fund of the Entre Ríos Province (Caja de Jubilaciones y Pensiones de la Provincia de Entre Ríos), and employers via the Digital Service Demonstration Worksheet (Planilla Demostrativa de Servicios – PDSD), as and when requested by the staff of the Retirement and Pension Fund.

With a view to increasing social security coverage among non-salaried workers and ensuring contributor loyalty, Algeria’s National Social Security Fund for Non-Salaried Workers (Caisse nationale de la sécurité sociale des non-salariés – CASNOS) launched a portal centred on a workflow of human interaction, digital processes and technology.

The Ecuadorian Social Security Institute (Instituto Ecuatoriano de Seguridad Social – IESS) is the country’s largest social security institution, with 3,727,522 members. The institution makes use of face-to-face, telephone and digital channels, including Instagram, Facebook, email, telephone, an electronic booking system and Skype.

The Healthy Finances Programme of Costa Rica’s Pension and Retirement Board of the National Teachers' Union (Junta de Pensiones y Jubilaciones del Magisterio Nacional – JUPEMA) is an initiative that allows participating members to improve their knowledge on how to comprehensively handle their finances, addressing each of the different dimensions of human behaviour.  This programme offers emotional and financial tools that positively impact members’ quality of life.

Efficient service delivery in the implementation of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in Zambia calls for the speedy processing of claims from health care providers (HCPs) that have provided services to NHIS members and beneficiaries.

As part of the National Health Insurance Management Authority’s (NHIMA) service level agreements with HCPs, all approved claims for services rendered must be paid within 45 days. To enhance efficiency and reduce fraud in claims, NHIMA introduced the biometric claims management system called APACE.

The project is called Compilation of suggestions. It brings together all of the opinions, suggestions and comments given by users of the products and services of the National Social Security Fund of Public State Employees (Caisse nationale de sécurité sociale des agents publics de l’État − CNSSAP) of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in a given period, as well as the improvements that have been made on the basis of this user feedback. It is shared with staff, members and other interested parties.

Mexico’s Retirement Savings System (Sistema de Ahorro para el Retiro – SAR) is an efficient way of financing pensions that ensure people can live a dignified life once they stop working. Social and economic protection in old age is a constitutional responsibility of the State, and this right must be supported by individualized, reliable, transparent and securely safeguarded records and information. In this way, it is possible to guarantee the person is able to fully exercise their social right.

The law passed in February 2022 defined how to proceed in the event of a major mutual fund closing for reasons of non-viability, establishing incorporation criteria for members and employees within a new structure. In accordance with the legislative criteria, the Catholic Workers’ Circle of the Uruguay Mutual Fund (Círculo Católico de Obreros del Uruguay Mutualista) was one of the institutions included in this process.

The Brazilian social security works as a system that guarantees income for workers and their families in case of illness, accident, imprisonment, pregnancy, death, or advanced age. In turn, it is composed by three programmes: the General Programme (RGPS)[1], the Specific Programme (RPPS)[2], and the Complementary Pension Programme (RPC)[3]. The latter is individual while the first two are public.

Crises and extreme events may strain the capacity to communicate records of medical leave to subsidiary cash benefit units. The pandemic has demonstrated the need to systematize procedures that have traditionally been carried out manually, which would provide significant benefits by making processes faster and more efficient, avoid the need for users to visit administrative offices, thereby avoiding expenditure, risks and outbreaks, and reduce spending on institutional resources.

The Ecuadorian Social Security Institute (Instituto Ecuatoriano de Seguridad Social – IESS) has a total of 18,418 active Ecuadorian members living abroad, as of 31 December 2022. In order to enquire about or apply for benefits, they must log in to the IESS ICT system, using a username and password. If they don’t have access to the account password, members can request a password reset and a security code will be sent to the email address registered in the IESS system. A large percentage of members living abroad have forgotten their registered email address.

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.

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.

The project, “Care plan management for psychological illnesses following accidents” (Steuerung des Heilverfahrens bei psychischen Erkrankungen nach Unfällen), involves three components: the extension of case management to cover psychological disorders, the development of an e-learning seminar to train case workers, and the development and evaluation of a diagnostic algorithm. This comprehensive approach aims to bring about an overall improvement in the quality of care for patients who develop psychological disorders following a work accident.

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.

Those who do not have a workplace registration at the Social Security Institution (Sosyal Güvenlik Kurumu – SSI) and want to benefit from state aid, incentives or supports, will be able to get an “e-Government Application for Workplace Registration and Social Security Debt Status” document from the e-Government Application through the use of internal and external web services.

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).

In accordance with our organization’s strategic plan to provide pensionable services that enrich the customer’s experience, the Abu Dhabi Pension Fund (the Fund) launched in 2018 an initiative to provide all the customers’ informational and transactional services on mobile application. In line with ISSA Guidelines on Service Quality, Guideline 7.

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.

Spain’s General Treasury of Social Security (Tesorería General de la Seguridad Social – TGSS), part of the Federation of Administrative Bodies of Spanish Social Security (Federación de Entidades Gestoras de la Administración de la Seguridad Social Española – FEGASSE), has always identified itself by its commitment to innovation, using technology as a basis for expanding and strengthening its digital channels and new management models.

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.

According to the regulations (Article 38 of Iranian Social Security Law), all of the contracts made between the Government and its contractors are subject to the social security law and the contractors are legally obliged to pay their contribution share to the Iranian Social security Organization (ISSO). The former method involved determining the contribution ratio after the contract conclusion, which led to some ambiguous cost items resulting in contradictions among the ISSO, employer, and contractor.

The royal project to expand social security coverage in Morocco was launched in accordance with Framework Law No. 09-21 on social protection. The implementation of the royal project to expand social security coverage has been entrusted to the National Social Security Fund (Caisse nationale de sécurité sociale – CNSS), a major player in social protection in Morocco and will take place in line with a staggered implementation schedule.

For the population groups:

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.

Social Security Institution (Sosyal Güvenlik Kurumu – SSI) of Turkey makes monthly payments to 13 million pensioners through a centralized payment system. In this payment system, the bank account information that the pensioners request to receive the pension is obtained at the time of application. Some deductions are made legally from the pensions of pensioners. Examples of these deductions are enforcement of debt payments, alimony payment, healthcare co-payments for treatments and medications, tax and premium debt deductions, excessive or undue payment made for any reason.

Risk management is a fairly new concept within the Seychelles Pension Fund (SPF) which was established in 2018. As SPF is committed to creating a comprehensive risk management programme to ensure that risk is properly monitored and integrated in on-going management of each section, a new tool was necessary to complement our existing risk register. The tool is Excel based and has provided SPF with a systematic process to better manage and control section risks holistically.

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).

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.

In response to the demand for shorter transaction and waiting time, convenience and adherence to the set COVID-19 prevention health guidelines by the Ministry of Health to stem the spread of the pandemic, the National Pension Scheme Authority (NAPSA, hereafter the Authority) of Zambia implemented an electronic queue management system.

The queue management system allows members, employers and NAPSA to access the following queueing services:

German Federal Pension Insurance (Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund – DRV) is using the potential of digitalization and is simplifying procedures for customers. The development of a customer web portal for preventive health care enables the DRV to provide customers with easy access to the relevant services. This is a first step towards achieving our strategic goal of creating a digital, personalized customer portal for the DRV.

The Seychelles Pension Fund (SPF) was set up in January 2006 by an Act of Parliament in 2000 with the objectives to provide for the financial security of members or the deceased dependents by the payment of a monthly pension. Following the introduction of SPF, the processing of benefits application was done using the physical application and this has some challenges because A4 paper had to be used in the processing of the application for the computation of the pension. Also, there was storage problems as there was no proper archive system in place for storage of records.

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.

The Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) scheme operated by the Department of Social Protection (DSP) of Ireland provides an income support payment to people who had to remove themselves from work due to restrictions imposed in response to COVID-19. The scheme was designed over a weekend and available within days to support a large portion of the Irish labour force. Within weeks some 600,000 people representing around 25 per cent of the workforce were in receipt of the payment.

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 Working Family Payment (WFP) scheme operated by the Department of Social Protection (DSP) of Ireland provides an income support payment to families in work. The scheme supports low-income families, some in part-time employment, to remain in work through the provision of supplementary income, based on family size (the number of dependants).

VssID – Digital Social Insurance is a digital ecosystem transformation to serve its members. This is a convenient service on smartphone, with many features, that meet the demands of the participants and beneficiaries of social insurance (SI), health insurance (HI) and unemployment insurance (UI) policies by the flexibility of providing essential information.

With the VssID app, users can:

How can seasonal workers protect their safety and health at work, identify potential health or accident risks and be aware of the first aid measures that must be adopted should the need arise? Seasonal workers can find specific information on these issues, relevant to the needs arising at their place of work, using the new health and safety web app from the Social Insurance for Agriculture, Forestry and Horticulture (Sozialversicherung für Landwirtschaft, Forsten und Gartenbau – SVLFG).

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.

Over the years, the National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work (Istituto Nazionale per l’Assicurazione contro gli Infortuni sul Lavoro – INAIL) has expanded the protection of workers, guaranteeing economic and health benefits and social-health and supplementary services as forms of support aimed at recovery, psycho-physical rehabilitation and reintegration into social and working life.

Since the crisis started at the beginning of 2020, businesses have been experiencing lower activity levels. The hope of a quick recovery leads them to try, as much as they can, to keep on their employees, favouring part-time work and temporary lay-offs over letting people go entirely.

The year 2020 posed unprecedented challenges to organizations as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it offered the Philippines Social Security System (SSS) opportunities to execute new measures to fulfil its mandate and address the needs of its members during the difficult period.

The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), a long-standing member of the International Social Security Association (ISSA), co-developed a Vision Zero training programme to teach the principles and benefits of Vision Zero as a preventative strategy and to empower learners with the tools they need to implement it. This newly created programme consisted of a Train the Trainer course, to assure the standards of trainer delivery, and a newly developed Vision Zero training course based on the principles of Vision Zero and the seven golden rules.

The General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI) of Saudi Arabia is always seeking to enhance its capacity in information technology (IT). It wants to optimize product development cycle in order to deliver the optimum business-value. Therefore, GOSI is starting an initiative called “Agile transformation programme” which is a key milestone to transform our operating model from “project-centric” to “product-centric” delivery model. This means that it will bring in cross-functional teams covering all the disciplines and resources needed for end-to-end delivery.

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 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.

The pace of development of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on social and economic life took everyone by surprise. Lockdown of entire sectors of the economy and restrictions in everyday functions caused serious disruptions of economic processes and had a significant impact on the condition of many enterprises and the labour market situation. To minimise the negative impact of the pandemic on the economy, the government introduced the aid programme known as the Anti-Crisis Shield (ACS).

With many entities shifting their data from hard copies to digital computer systems in the early 1990s, there was a heavy reliance on human labour that was required to do the data entry process. This process however, did not come without consequences some of which included digitisation of existing errors, human error in the data capture, creation of suspense balances and subsequent loss of data. These challenges culminated into poor quality data, a critical matter that many entities are still facing to date. The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) of Uganda is no exception.

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 labour market has been hard hit by the coronavirus crisis. In 2020, Belgium’s National Employment Office (Office national de l’emploi – ONEM) compensated some 2.3 million people, that is, one in every three workers. It also provided support to two in every three employers, some 70 per cent more than usual. Many workers found themselves temporarily unemployed for the first time and needing to make recourse to unemployment benefits.

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.).

Back Protection and Rehabilitation Programme (BPRP) is a dynamic and proactive solution to control and manage the commonest musculoskeletal disorders at the workplace, which is backache or low back pain. The main objective is to reduce the incidence and impact of back pain, prevent worsening of disability, reduce the disability period, and finally retain skilled workers affected in the workforce.