This end of the year issue of e-News marks the end of my term. 13 years ago, the ISSA members expressed their confidence by electing me as the new Secretary General. Since then both social security and the ISSA have developed considerably and I believe we can be proud of our achievements.

Actuaries, statisticians and investment specialists are playing an ever-expanding role in social security and society. This was a key take home message from the 19th ISSA International Conference of Social Security Actuaries, Statisticians and Investment Specialists (ACT 2018), which took place in Kuwait City, Kuwait from 6-8 November.

A special issue of the International Social Security Review – Actuarial and financial reporting of social security obligations – was prepared to accompany the highly successful 19th ISSA International Conference of Social Security Actuaries, Statisticians and Investment Specialists (ACT2018) in Kuwait City, Kuwait (6–8 November 2018).

The International Social Security Association (ISSA) and Rehabilitation International (RI) signed a cooperation agreement on specific activities on the occasion of the RI General Assembly held in Berlin, Germany from 4 to 5 November 2018. The cooperation agreement was signed by the President of the ISSA, Professor Dr Joachim Breuer, and the President of RI Global, Haidi Zhang.

The revision and production of ISSA Guidelines has now reached its second consultation phase. ISSA members are asked to contribute to the consultations.

The ISSA is developing a new set of professional guidelines for social security administrations on combating error, evasion and fraud. This work is part of a broader project of ongoing updating of the ISSA Guidelines. In this context, an international seminar on error, evasion and fraud was held in Madrid, Spain, from 13 to 15 November.

For Universal Children’s Day on 20 November, the ISSA put a spotlight on the need to strengthen social protection for children. Current data suggest that the social protection coverage of children worldwide is low and highly uneven. The ILO report that almost two-thirds of children (1.3 billion) are not covered by any form of social protection.

In just over a year, the Vision Zero campaign to promote safety, health and wellbeing at work has reached the milestone of more than 3000 supporters. Since the global campaign launch during the XXI World Congress for Safety and Health 2017 in Singapore in September 2017, a number of regional and national launches have contributed to building a broad and strong Vision Zero community. To date, almost 2000 companies, over 500 national, regional and international organisations and over 500 occupational and safety and health trainers have signed up.

On occasion of the Vision Zero launch in Tokyo on 20 November 2018, the ISSA Secretary General Hans-Horst Konkolewsky met with Mr Tagawa, Director of the National Federation of Health Insurance Societies (Kemporen) and exchanged about current challenges such as chronic diseases and long-term care in an ageing society. Mr Konkolewsky also informed about the activities of ISSA and TC Health as regards long-term care and about a meeting in Berlin next spring on “Big data and health insurance”.

Congratulations to the Federation of Austrian Social Insurance Institutions that celebrated the 70^th anniversary of its establishment. The ISSA was honoured by the invitation to deliver the keynote address on the occasion of the celebration on 15 November, and the ISSA Secretary General spoke about the future of social security in the context of evolving labour markets and population ageing.

 
117th Meeting of the ISSA Bureau
5–6 December 2018 (Geneva, Switzerland)

37th Session of the ISSA Council
7 December 2018 (Geneva, Switzerland)

Technical Seminar on extending social coverage - innovating to reach groups that are difficult to cover
12–13 December (Nuakchot, Mauritania)

Regional Social Security Forum for Europe
14–16 May 2019 (Baku, Azerbaijan)