Role of social protection in reducing the burden of public health and social measures during the COVID-19 pandemic: evidence review

Table of Contents

• _Hlk155955560 32
• _Hlk172129930 33
• Acknowledgements 7
• Abbreviations 8
• Glossary 9
• Executive summary 12
• Purpose and scope 13
• Overview of the “effectiveness” of different social protection benefits 13
• Food insecurity 14
• Quality of diet 14
• Financial and employment insecurity 14
• Mental and physical health 15
• Social attitudes and cohesion 15
• Educational investment 15
• Qualitative studies 16
• Conclusion 16
• 1. Background 17
• 1.1 Unintended negative consequences of public health and social measures during the COVID-19 pandemic 17
• 1.2 The role of social protection in health emergency preparedness, response and recovery 21
• 1.3 Rationale for this scoping review 23
• 1.3.1 Objectives 24
• 1.3.2 Target audience 24
• 2. Methods 25
• 3. Results 27
• 3.1 Overview of included evidence 28
• 3.2 Mapping of social protection policies and programmes by benefit type 30
• 3.2.1 Overview of identified social protection benefits 30
• 3.3 “Effectiveness” of social protection policies and programmes in mitigating health and socioeconomic consequences of PHSM 32
• 3.3.1 Social protection and food insecurity (32 studies) 32
• 3.3.2 Social protection and equity related to food insecurity (3 studies) 39
• 3.3.3 Social protection and quality of diet (2 studies) 40
• 3.3.4 Social protection and financial and employment insecurity (18 studies) 40
• 3.3.5 Social protection and mental and physical health (15 studies) 45
• 3.3.6 Social protection and social attitudes (2 studies) 48
• 3.3.7 Social protection and educational investment (1 study) 48
• 3.4 Results from qualitative studies (25 studies) 49
• 3.4.1 Challenges faced by people living in vulnerable conditions (8 studies) 50
• 3.4.2 Provision and adaptation of social protection policies and programmes (25 studies) 51
• 3.4.3 Effects of social protection policies and programmes as reported by beneficiaries (8 studies) 53
• 4. Discussion 54
• 4.1 Summary of results 54
• 4.1.1 Food insecurity 55
• 4.1.2 Quality of diet 56
• 4.1.3 Financial and employment insecurity 56
• 4.1.4 Mental and physical health 57
• 4.1.5 Social attitudes and cohesion 57
• 4.1.6 Educational investment 57
• 4.1.7 Qualitative findings 57
• 4.2 Strengths and limitations 58
• 4.3 Implications for generating evidence on social protection in the context of health emergencies 59
• 4.4 Implications for integrating social protection into health emergency preparedness and response 60
• 5. Conclusion 63
• References 64
• Annexes 76
• Annex 1. Methodology of the scoping review 77
• Annex 2. Search string 85
• Annex 3. Studies included in the “effectiveness appraisal” 87