Effects of social protection on health

Disentangling the Relationship Between Social Protection and Social Cohesion: Introduction to the Special Issue

“…The core purpose of social protection is to reduce vulnerability and poverty in a country by preventing people from falling into poverty ( preventive function ), providing support to those who are living in poverty ( protective function ) and enabling low-income earners escape from poverty ( promotive function ) (Loewe 2009a ). Thereby, it contributes to nutrition, education and health because it allows even low-income people to buy food, consult a physician when they are sick and send their children to school rather than work (Burchi et al 2018 ; Kabeer 2014 ; Strupat 2021 ). And social protection is also one of the most powerful tools to reduce income inequality between social classes (Inchauste and Lustig 2017 ) and genders (Holmes and Jones 2013 ).…”

Social Protection and Social Cohesion in Times of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Kenya

“…Initial studies have shown that these measures have been effective in reducing some of the negative economic impacts of the pandemic, including poverty, hunger and inequality (Abay et al 2021 ; Banerjee et al 2020 ; Bottan et al 2021 ; Lustig et al 2020 ). However, in the past years, the goals of social protection have been expanded, and it has been recognised that social protection can also affect more complex outcomes, such as human capital, health and social cohesion (Garcia-Mandicó et al 2021 ; Koehler 2021 ; Strupat 2021 ). The literature on the relationship with social cohesion is still limited and does not consider covariate shocks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, that alone can affect social cohesion.…”