Kathmandu, June 12 -- Worldwide, the impact of Covid-19 underscores the need for more social security buffers built upon the access to four basic services: affordable credit, reliable saving and pensions options, life and health insurance, and quality healthcare.

This is true in Nepal, too, where large sections of the country's nearly 30 million people lack access to social security. In fact, there were less than 3 million total beneficiaries from some form of government social security in 2015.

More investment in building the baseline infrastructure, digital pipes for service delivery and platforms for demand/supply matching, can deepen and widen key services that help create social buffers. Covid-19 is not the first disaster to hit Ne...