As the world marks International Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day, the International Labour Organization (ILO) reaffirms its commitment to a rights-based approach to achieving health for all. Throughout 2025, the ILO has worked with governments, workers’ and employers’ organizations, and international partners to strengthen social health protection systems and support countries in advancing toward universal health coverage.
A major focus has been enhancing multisectoral collaboration across the sustainable development targets on universal social protection (SDG 1.3) and universal health coverage (SDG 3.8). As custodian for these targets, the ILO and WHO co-organized a side event at the World Summit for Social Development in Doha on “Universal social protection for better health, improved resilience, and poverty reduction”.
The event highlighted the health dividends of universal social protection and its role as a driver of intersectoral collaboration.
The ILO’s advocacy builds on its leadership in the P4H network, a global partnership providing coherent support to low- and middle-income countries in building sustainable health systems, in collaboration with the Swiss Development Cooperation Agency.
In 2025, the ILO significantly expanded its capacity-building offerings, including:
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A new ILO-ITC hybrid course, Social Health Protection: Addressing Inequities in Access to Health Care
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The online Social Health Protection Toolkit, launched on World Health Day
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A MOOC, Introduction to Social Health Protection, launched in September 2025, already reaching over 1,000 participants
At the country level, the ILO strengthened partnerships and technical support. In Nigeria and Tanzania, trainings focused on coverage extension and scheme administration. South-South knowledge exchanges enabled representatives from Ethiopia, Senegal, and Zambia to observe the openIMIS social health protection system in Nepal, informing their own digitalization strategies.
The ILO also supported evidence-based decision-making and sustainable financing. In Ethiopia, it assessed the financial sustainability of community-based health insurance in Addis Ababa, providing crucial insights for extending coverage, including for refugees.
To mark International UHC Day, the ILO is releasing two key publications illustrating how countries can extend social health protection sustainably and inclusively—a testament to the organization’s continued leadership in making health a universal right.
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