The COVID-19 pandemic and containment responses have exposed existing social, economic, gender, ethnic and health inequities and are rapidly exacerbating these. The higher risks of infection and mortality recorded for specific population groups can be traced to a legacy of cumulative inequities in the social determinants of health (SDH). Additionally, the necessary COVID-19 response measures applied, while helping to reduce infection and mortality, have placed a disproportionate burden on more disadvantaged populations, widening health inequities.
The webinar discusses the impacts of unemployment on health, with a particular focus on mental health. It stresses the importance of developing symbiotic strategies in health and labour sectors for tackling both unemployment and health in the face of pandemics and other crises.
Agenda
Welcome - Dr Naoko Yamamoto, Assistant Director-General, UHC/Healthier Populations Division, WHO
Setting the Scene - Dr Nicole Valentine, Equity & Health Unit, with Dr Orielle Solar, Dr Gerry Eijkemans, Dr Alison Schafer, WHO and PAHO/AMRO
PANEL
ILO projections and patterns of unemployment in the Latin America Regions and main labour policies of redress
Dr Gerhard Reinecke
Gerhard Reinecke (Germany) is Senior Specialist for Employment Policies at the ILO, Office for the Southern Cone of Latin America, Santiago de Chile. He studied Political Science at Hamburg University (Germany) and Development Economics at the German Development Institute and has a Ph. D. from Hamburg University. He works on labour market analysis, employment quality, global supply chains and employment policies; he also coordinates the ILO´s activities in Paraguay.
Labour markets and pathways for recovery that mitigate unemployment
Dr Marcela Melendez
Marcela Meléndez (Colombia) is the Chief Economist for Latin America and the Caribbean at UNDP. She has a Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University. Before joining UNDP in 2019, Marcela was Managing Partner at ECONESTUDIO, a Colombian boutique economics consulting firm, renowned for its contributions to the public policy debate. Between 2010 and 2013 she co-directed the “Equity and Social Mobility Mission” by invitation of the Colombian government and in 2017 she was part of Colombia’s “Experts’ Commission for the Review of Public Expenditure and Investment”. Her research and consulting activities focus on the design and evaluation of public policy and on topics related to competition policy and market regulation, among others. At UNDP she leads the production of analytical content to support decision making in the LAC region. She is the lead author of the recently launched UNDP LAC Regional Human Development Report 2021 “Trapped: High Inequality and Low Growth in Latin America and the Caribbean”.
Unemployment and mental health
Mr David Finch
David is Assistant Director, Healthy Lives at the Health Foundation leading a programme of work developing policy and analysis related to the wider determinants of health. His work focuses on the role that social and economic policy and business can play in improving health, and understanding the influence that health has on social and economic outcomes of people and places.
The Health Foundation is an independent charity committed to bringing about better health and health care for people in the UK. The Healthy Lives team seeks to address the determinants of health and reduce health inequalities through a range of activity from grant giving to policy analysis.