Protecting health during COVID-19 and beyond: A global examination of paid sick leave design in 193 countries.
Glob Public Health
; 15(7): 925-934, 2020 07.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-245113
ABSTRACT
Well-designed paid sick leave is critical to ensure workers stay home when sick to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and other infectious pathogens, both when the economy is open and during an economic shutdown. To assess whether paid sick leave is available in countries around the world, we created and analysed a database of legislative guarantees of paid leave for personal illness in 193 UN member states. Original labour and social security legislation and global information on social security systems for each country were obtained and analysed by a multilingual research team using a common coding framework. While strong models exist across low- middle- and high-income countries, critical gaps that jeopardise health and economic security remain. 27% of countries do not guarantee paid sick leave from the first day of illness, essential to encouraging workers to stay home when they are sick and prevent spread. 58% of countries do not have explicit provisions to ensure self-employed and gig economy workers have access to paid sick leave benefits. Comprehensive paid sick leave policies that cover all workers are urgently needed if we are to reduce the spread of COVID-19, and be ready to respond to threats from new pathogens.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Pneumonia, Viral
/
Public Policy
/
Global Health
/
Coronavirus Infections
/
Sick Leave
Type of study:
Observational study
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Language:
English
Journal:
Glob Public Health
Journal subject:
Public Health
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
17441692.2020.1764076
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