Universal health coverage and universal social protection: A joint agenda to improve health equity and well-being in the informal economy

Human health and wellbeing are strongly determined by the conditions in which people live, work, grow and age. Therefore, working conditions, status in employment and effective social protection coverage, as they impact income, social cohesion, and inequality, also have an impact on people’s health, including mental health. Indeed, they affect nutrition, education, housing, healthcare seeking behaviours and other social determinants of health (SDH). Those determinants are rooted in the unequal distribution of power and resources which generates a social gradient in health at local, national and international levels, resulting in inequities in health outcomes within and between countries.