Public Pension Agency (28.04.2020) The call center is fully prepared and staffed (remotely) throughout the month of Ramadan to receive all incoming calls, and to deal with them as determined by the nature of the required service throughout the week from Sunday to Thursday from ten in the morning until four in the evening, and from nine in the evening until one in the morning, and on Friday from one in the evening until five in the evening and from nine in the evening until one in the morning. They also implemented providing customer care service via (Twitter) and increasing customer care team working hours to ensure the service is provided to customers seamlessly, including the activation of the "Mutwajed" service through the employee mobiel phone to facilitate communication between employees and clients.

Help Age Asia (2020) As part of an Asia-Pacific regional initiative, HelpAge International and partner organisations are producing bimonthly briefs to summarise trends in the situation of older people and responses to their situation in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Luego que esta tarde la Cámara de Diputadas y Diputados aprobara el proyecto de reforma constitucional que permite retirar el 10% de los fondos de pensiones de las cuentas de capitalización individual obligatoria, la Superintendencia de Pensiones (SP) emitió dos oficios con instrucciones con el procedimiento, los plazos y los resguardos que las administradoras de fondos de pensiones (AFP) deberán adoptar para garantizar la correcta aplicación de la nueva ley. Los regulados tienen hasta el próximo martes 28 de julio para entregar sus comentarios. La SP determinó que la entrega de los recursos se deberá efectuar en los siguientes plazos: el 50% en un máximo de 10 días hábiles desde la fecha de la presentación de la solicitud y el 50% restante en un máximo de 30 días hábiles desde la fecha de pago del primer retiro. Cada pago tendrá un límite de 75 UF.

Reuters (14.09.2020) A collective failure by political leaders to heed warnings and prepare for an infectious disease pandemic has transformed “a world at risk” to a “world in disorder”, according to a report on international epidemic preparedness.

The government website (04.07.2020) The cabinet and social partners have reached final agreement on the details of the pension agreement. The new system will be more transparent. Workers and retirees gain a clearer insight into the accumulated assets. It also provides a realistic expectation and offers more prospects for a high-purchasing pension. The pension entitlements from the current system will be abandoned, thus eliminating the need for the use of actuarial interest and funding ratios. As a result, pensions and benefits can move faster with the state of the economy than is currently the case. Not everything will change, however. Many good things from the old system will be retained, such as solidarity, collective investment and the current mandatory participation. The new rules will apply to all pensions. Pension funds must transfer to the new system by 1 January 2026 at the latest.

IPE (15.07.2020) Despite heavy opposition resistance against “breaking down the world’s best pensions system”, the Dutch parliament agreed yesterday to the switch to a new defined contribution (DC) contract which includes a lifecycle system and personal pension pots. However, many questions on implementation remain.

capital.fr (07.09.2020) Le coût des tests généralisés du COVID 19 est très important et la Sécurité sociale est directement impactée.

(May 2020)  The readiness of PPA enabled it to continue providing services electronically immediately after suspending the attendance in wokplaces. Thus, PPA managed to adopt the method of working remotely for all employees (+700 employees) participate in this new method of work, by taking an integrated set of effective actions and measures, adopted from the Saudi Vision 2030 and PPA Strategy 2022. PPA would not have reached this achievement without having an advanced digital infrastructure, advance Business Continuity Plan during crises and natural disasters, and qualified human resource to deal with digital technologies.

Finnish Centre for Pensions (02.04.2020) The European Commission has published instructions regarding the mobility of workers in EU during the exceptional circumstances caused by the corona epidemic. The Commission states that the regulations on the coordination of social security systems continue to be valid. The temporary exceptional circumstances do not change the social security status of mobile workers. The instructions by the Commission are indicative and they do not, in individual cases, bind the authorities in the Member States.

Federal Department of Economics, Education and Research (26.08.2020) Bern, - Additional hours that are built up outside of short-time working phases should not have to be temporarily deducted from lost work. This was decided by the Federal Council on August 26, 2020. In addition, income from interim employment is still not counted towards short-time work compensation. This rule therefore applies until the end of the year.

UNAIDS (26.08.2020) UNAIDS is calling on governments to strengthen HIV-sensitive social protection responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

People living with HIV and tuberculosis (TB) are being significantly impacted by COVID-19. Modelling has estimated the potential catastrophic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic with increases of up to 10%, 20% and 36% projected deaths for HIV, TB and malaria patients, respectively, over the next five years.

UNDP (August 2020) The COVID-19 Global Gender Response Tracker monitors policy measures enacted by governments worldwide to tackle the COVID-19 crisis, and highlights responses that have integrated a gender lens. It includes national measures that are directly addressing women’s economic and social security, including unpaid care work, the labour market and violence against women. The tracker is coordinated by UNDP with substantive leadership and technical contributions from UN Women. It is co-created by both entities and based on publicly available information, including media coverage, official documents, and other COVID-19 policy trackers. In some cases, information on measures was provided by UNDP and UN Women country offices.

The Health System Response Monitor (HSRM) has been designed in response to the COVID-19 outbreak to collect and organize up-to-date information on how countries are responding to the crisis. It focuses primarily on the responses of health systems but also captures wider public health initiatives. This is a joint undertaking of the WHO Regional Office for Europe, the European Commission, and the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies.

P4H Network (05.08.2020) Governments can indeed be very creative in designing schemes for supporting private business: postponing tax collection, reshaping accounting rules, subsiding or tax-exonerating some costs, etc. These schemes and solutions are not developed for the health sector, some could be more favorable to the latter than others. The health sector has indeed some specificities – the important share of manpower in the production function, the non-versatility of infrastructure… and more fundamentally the public mission. The World Health Organization and the International Hospital Federation will partner to identify possible solutions that ensure the future of autonomous hospitals and their best contribution to the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) goal.

The Oxford Supertracker is a global directory of over 100 policy trackers and surveys related to COVID-19. This novel collection is designed to assist researchers and policy-makers in keeping track of a rapidly growing number of data sources. You can search and identify relevant information resources, such as datasets, surveys, and systematic collections, across different areas, countries and data types.

IMF (26.08.2020) In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries have created dedicated extrabudgetary funds (EBFs) to mobilize resources and streamline emergency spending measures. A recently published IMF Note discusses the role these funds can play in the current crisis. The note examines the motivation for setting up EBFs and describes a database of more than 40 funds worldwide compiled by the World Health Organization (WHO). It documents the diverse nature of these funds, discusses the risks that poorly designed funds can pose for public financial management (PFM) and provides guidance on how to design funds to make them efficient, transparent and accountable.

Social Security Administration (18.08.2020) The IRS has extended its deadline to September 30, 2020, for people to provide information to the IRS using its Non-Filer Tool at www.irs.gov/coronavirus/non-filers-enter-payment-info-here. People should do this if they: receive Social Security retirement, survivors, or disability benefits, or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments; did not file a 2019 or 2018 tax return; have a qualifying child under age 17; and did not already enter information in the IRS’ Non-Filer Tool for themselves and at least one child.

Project Syndicate (19.08.2020) COVID-19 has decimated livelihoods worldwide, squeezing the middle class and pushing low-income households into abject poverty. Social-protection programs such as Pakistan's Ehsaas Emergency Cash offer not only a path forward during the pandemic, but also valuable lessons for the future.

who.int (24.07.2020) The COVID-19 pandemic has affected older people disproportionately, especially those living in long-term care facilities. In many countries, evidence shows that more than 40% of COVID-19 related deaths have been linked to long-term care facilities, with figures being as high as 80% in some high-income countries. Concerted action is needed to mitigate the impact across all aspects of long-term care, including home- and community-based care, given that most users and providers of care are those who are vulnerable to severe COVID-19.

brookings.edu (19.08.2020) The financial response to the Covid crisis demonstrated the inability of the federal government to rapidly get money to people during times of crisis. It took between three weeks and three months for Americans to receive a single penny of their emergency impact payments, aka the Covid stimulus.

 Korea Biomedical Review (19.06.2020) The National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) said it would team up with the World Bank to create online content for learning Korea’s experience of running the national health insurance system. At the request of the World Bank, the NIHS has signed a memorandum of understanding with the bank to make the online learning contents about the excellence of the nation’s healthcare coverage and the NIHS’ operation experience, the NIHS said. The two entities will participate in the production of the online content, which aims to support developing countries’ achievement of the universal healthcare coverage in the era of the post-Covid-19, the NHIS said.

Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (21.08.2020) "Kokoronomimi" is a portal site which provides comprehensive information and support for worker's mental health. It provides mental health care counselling services via chat and SNS to people who are anxious or stressed by Covid-19 .

UNSDG  (July 2020) The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed serious fault lines and vulnerabilities in societies, institutions and economies all around the world. The Arab region, home to 436 million people, initially kept transmission and mortality rates lower than the global average but more recent trends are cause for concern, especially in light of fragmented health care and insufficient primary care in many countries. The pandemic has also magnified many decades-long challenges. These include violence and conflict; inequalities; unemployment; poverty; inadequate social safety nets; human rights concerns; insufficiently responsive institutions and governance systems; and an economic model that has not yet met the aspirations of all. The consequences of the pandemic are likely to be deep and long-lasting. 

Development Pathways (2020) The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a truly global shock: the necessary measures taken to control the spread of the virus have resulted in a major economic and human crisis. The crisis is unprecedented and requires unprecedented measures. By providing families with cash so that national consumption is increased, a fiscal stimulus should enable countries to lower the depth of any recession and, importantly, strengthen the speed of their economic recovery with the potential for higher economic growth.

National Provident Fund (01.04.2020) To support all employers in Fiji, the statutory FNPF employer contribution is halved from 10 percent to 5 percent effective from 1 April 2020 to 31 December 2020. This expected to provide a $130 million relief to employers for the next 9 months. The employee Contribution is reduced from 8 percent to 5 percent effective from 1 April 2020 to 31 December 2020. This will put around $80 million back in the pockets of Fijian employees for the next 9 months.