Trillions of dollars are being mobilized to combat the health, economic and social impacts of Covid-19, mainly in the richest countries. A small fraction of this would be enough to extend social protection to all those who do not have it. The ITUC is calling for a Global Social Protection Fund to be established urgently. Investing in social protection saves lives and provides the basis for economic development. The international community must rise to this challenge – for those most in need and for humanity as a whole. To highlight the need, key data from eight countries, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Serbia, Somalia and the Ukraine are presented here along with testimony from people who are desperately need social protection with access to health care.