Welfare Social Security

Overview

Welfare and social security are systems of public provision designed to protect individuals and households against economic insecurity and to support those unable to meet their basic needs. Welfare generally refers to means-tested or targeted public assistance programs that provide income, food, housing, healthcare, or other support to people facing poverty, unemployment, disability, or other hardship, while social security typically denotes a broader set of contributory and non-contributory schemes that insure people against the loss of income arising from old age, sickness, injury, disability, maternity, unemployment, or the death of a breadwinner. Together these mechanisms function as social safety nets that aim to reduce poverty and inequality, redistribute risk across a population, and uphold a basic standard of living regardless of an individual's circumstances. The design, financing, and coverage of such programs vary widely between countries and shape population health by influencing access to care, nutrition, and the social determinants of well-being, which is why welfare and social security are central concerns in global and public health. This page gathers peer-reviewed, open-access research relevant to global health and serves as an accurate scientific reference on the topic.

Research published in this journal

3 peer-reviewed articles, ranked by relevance. Each links to its DOI.

How this research is being cited

The 3 articles above have been cited 1 time in the scholarly literature. Citation data via OpenAlex and Crossref, updated Jun 2026.

This page summarises published research for orientation; it is not medical or professional advice.

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