Across the globe, health-care workers have gone on strike to protest the stress placed on them by the global COVID-19 pandemic and economic downturn, pushing already-strained services beyond their limits. These labour actions are part of the challenges faced by countries attempting to provide welfare services to their populations. We talk to three experts about why social welfare services are being cut, and what actions governments may need to take to ensure better access. 

Featuring Miguel Niño-Zarazúa, senior economics lecturer at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London in the UK,  Christine Corlet Walker, a research fellow at the Center for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity at the University of Surrey, also in the UK, and Erdem Yörük, assistant professor at Koç University in Istanbul in Turkey.

This episode was produced by Mend Mariwany and Katie Flood. The executive producer is Mend Mariwany. Eloise Stevens does our sound design and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Full credits for this episode are available here. A transcript will be available soon. Sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation.

Further reading: 

• Better income assistance programs are needed to help people with rising cost of living
• COVID-19 holds lessons for the future of social protection
• Degrowth: why some economists think abandoning growth is the only way to save the planet – podcast