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COVID-19 and the Health Sector

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COVID-19 and the Health Sector

ILO Sectoral Brief

ILO,

5 min read
5 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

Learn how the pandemic crisis has challenged the health care sector – and how countries need to respond.

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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Eye Opening
  • Overview
  • Concrete Examples

Recommendation

An informative report from the International Labour Organization outlines COVID-19’s impact on health workers and health systems around the world. Published in April 2020, the report indicates how countries responded in the early months of the pandemic. The issues it raises – of occupational safety and health, workers’ mental health, working hours, gender disparities, workforce shortages, and financial impacts – remain relevant and largely unresolved.

Summary

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed heavy demands on health workers, and they need support.

Every health system depends on its health workers, and in turn these workers need protection so they can continue to work. They need labor rights and decent working conditions. Although little data exist about rates of COVID-19 cases among health workers, they experience a high rate of infection – in Italy in April 2020, for example, the infection rate among health workers exceeded 10%. To reduce their risk of occupational respiratory infection, health workers need information about how the disease transmits, personal protective equipment, training in how to use it, and further measures to control infection, such as droplet precautions.

To cope with the emotional demands of working in hospitals during a pandemic crisis – which may include fear, anxiety, exposure to discrimination and stigma, and separation from their families – health workers need information about how to deal with stress and, in some cases, counseling. They also need working time arrangements that support their well-being.

Short-term health workers, including volunteers, need the same protections.

About the Author

The International Labour Organization, an agency of the United Nations, works to advance social and economic justice through setting international labor standards.

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