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31. Sanctions, Scarcity, and the Depressing Reality of Iranian Healthcare

Author:
Younes Mahmoudieh
Publication Date:
01-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
Abstract:
When I visited Iran this summer, severe panic attacks, depression, and anxiety—longstanding byproducts of post-traumatic stress disorder—caused me to seek out a trauma therapist. After weeks of contacting Iranian pharmacies, hospitals, charities, and relief organizations, my prescriptions for Zoloft, Xanax, Ativan, and Clonazepam remained unfilled. Since the United States exited the Iranian nuclear deal (JCPOA) and imposed new sanctions, this kind of shortage has become commonplace.
Topic:
Health, Sanctions, International Community, and International Court of Justice (ICJ)
Political Geography:
Iran, Middle East, North America, and United States of America

32. The Coronavirus in Iran (Part 2): Regime Culpability and Resiliency

Author:
Mehdi Khalaji
Publication Date:
03-2020
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
Even as their lack of transparency worsens the public health crisis, the Supreme Leader and other officials have systematically gutted any civil society elements capable of organizing substantial opposition to such policies. Iran’s ongoing coronavirus epidemic has left the people with less reason than ever to trust the information and directives issued by their leaders. Part 1 of this PolicyWatch discussed the clergy’s role in aggravating this problem, but the state’s mistakes and deceptions have been legion as well. They include scandalous discrepancies between official reports after a period of denial that the virus had entered the country; a health system that was unprepared to deal with such a disease promptly and properly; and official resistance to implementing internationally recommended precautionary measures, such as canceling flights from China and quarantining the center of the outbreak. These decisions have sown widespread confusion about facts and fictions related to the virus, the most effective medically proven ways to control it, and the degree to which it is spreading throughout the country. As a result, an already restive population has become increasingly panicked about the future and angry at the state. Yet can the coronavirus actually bring down the regime? The harsh reality is that the state has left little space for opposition to organize around health issues, or any issues for that matter. Instead, it has sought to confuse the people and redirect their anger toward external enemies, even as its own policies contribute to the crisis.
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, Civil Society, Health, Public Health, and Coronavirus
Political Geography:
Iran, Middle East, and United States of America

33. The Coronavirus in Iran (Part 1): Clerical Factors

Author:
Mehdi Khalaji
Publication Date:
03-2020
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
The clergy’s ambitions for global Shia revolution made the city of Qom uniquely vulnerable to the disease, and their resistance to modern medical science weakened the state’s ability to combat its spread. On February 19, two days before the Iranian government officially announced the arrival of coronavirus, an infected businessman who had recently returned from China to Qom passed away. The location and timing of his death illustrate how the Shia holy city and the religious leaders and institutions who call it home have played an outsize role in the disease’s disproportionately rapid spread inside Iran compared to other countries. How did this situation come to pass, and what does it say about the current state of the clerical establishment, its relationship with the regime, and its alienation from large swaths of Iranian society? (Part 2 of this PolicyWatch discusses the regime's role in the outbreak and its resiliency to such crises.)
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Health, Religion, Shia, and Coronavirus
Political Geography:
China, Iran, Middle East, Global Focus, and United States of America

34. COVID‐19 Effects on US Higher Education Campuses: Academic Student Mobility to and from China

Author:
Mirka Martel
Publication Date:
03-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Institute of International Education (IIE)
Abstract:
The Institute of International Education (IIE) is studying the effects of COVID‐19 (coronavirus) on global student mobility on U.S. higher education campuses. Our aim in this series is to provide more information about the effects that COVID‐19 has had on international student mobility, and the measures U.S. higher education institutions are taking regarding international students currently on campus and those abroad, international students interested in studying in the United States, and U.S. students planning to study abroad. The first survey was launched on Feb. 13, 2020, and specifically focuses on the effects of COVID‐19 with regard to academic student mobility to and from China. As the COVID‐19 outbreak evolves, IIE will administer follow‐on surveys to the U.S. higher education community to monitor the unfolding situation and to keep the international education community informed.
Topic:
Education, Health, Youth, Mobility, Higher Education, and Coronavirus
Political Geography:
China, Asia, North America, and United States of America

35. Abortion and the Political Futures of Women’s Rights

Author:
Andrew Delatolla
Publication Date:
09-2020
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Cairo Review of Global Affairs
Institution:
School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, American University in Cairo
Abstract:
Gender and women’s rights have been divisive issues in U.S. domestic politics, particularly when it comes to abortion. How has the Trump administration handled these issues and will the 2020 U.S. election serve as a continuation of these policies?
Topic:
Gender Issues, Health, Governance, Elections, Women, Feminism, and Abortion
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

36. US Fiscal Health: Is There Life After Debt?

Author:
Committee for Economic Development of the Conference Board
Publication Date:
07-2020
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Conference Board
Abstract:
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, the United States faced the most serious fiscal threat in its modern history. The economic devastation wrought by the outbreak has made the problem far worse. Despite the very serious threat to US fiscal health, this issue does not rank among the top five for American voters in the 2020 election campaign.1 CED addresses the direct impact of the pandemic elsewhere in this series. This CED Solutions Brief will explain why even the prepandemic threat must be a public policy priority.
Topic:
Debt, Health, Capitalism, Fiscal Policy, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

37. US Health Care in the Pandemic

Author:
Committee for Economic Development of the Conference Board
Publication Date:
07-2020
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Conference Board
Abstract:
Within a few short weeks in early spring, the COVID-19 pandemic began to unleash its devastation on the health and economic well-being of the American public. With this attack, it challenged the structure and basic foundations of the US health care system. In response to the growing deluge, US health care workers, public health officials, and health care industry leaders were the front line of defense against the virus. The whole country witnessed their extraordinary courage, fortitude, and rapid and unyielding response. A government stagnated by partisan politics joined to swiftly pass unprecedented relief and support legislation, waive regulation, and launch a historic, large-scale vaccine and treatment development effort in collaboration with the private sector. The US health care system has not collapsed. But as the US emerged from the initial weeks of the swift, unprecedented, and devastating destruction of the COVID-19 global pandemic, several significant shortfalls in the health care system became clear: the ability of the structure of the system to handle the challenge; the nation’s preparedness when the pandemic began; and finally, how the system has performed given the resources we have on hand. These three problems could be restated as: How should the nation change the fundamental structure of the health care system? What should we do now to respond to the current pandemic? And what should we do, once the smoke clears, to prepare for future pandemics?
Topic:
Health, Public Health, Pandemic, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

38. Leveraging the Potential of Home Visiting Programs to Serve Immigrant and Dual Language Learner Families

Author:
Maki Park and Caitlin Katsiaficas
Publication Date:
08-2019
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Migration Policy Institute (MPI)
Abstract:
A child’s first years are ones of exceptionally rapid growth, a period that can lay the foundation for school readiness and healthy socioemotional development. Growing awareness of the importance of investing in infants and toddlers is reflected in the spread of home visiting programs—family-focused social services provided in the home on a regular basis to expectant mothers and new parents alongside their young children. The federal Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program, for example, has seen its funding rise since it was created in 2010, and many states and counties have launched or expanded their own programs. Children with immigrant parents and those exposed to a language other than English in the home (known as Dual Language Learners, or DLLs) are important target populations for such early childhood programs. As of 2013–17, one-fourth of U.S. children ages 5 and under were children of immigrants, and nearly one-third were DLLs. Young children of immigrants are also more likely than their peers to live in low-income households—a priority service population for many home visiting initiatives. Yet studies show that DLLs and children in immigrant families are underserved by home visiting services. This policy brief examines the characteristics that make these children and their families important targets for such programs and barriers that may hinder their participation. It also highlights opportunities to address them, including by making these groups visible in MIECHV needs assessments, improving program data collection, and strengthening partnerships with community-based organizations.
Topic:
Education, Health, Children, Immigrants, Family, and Welfare
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

39. More Is Possible Now to Address North Korea’s Health and Humanitarian Needs

Author:
J. Stephen Morrison
Publication Date:
02-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
Abstract:
As President Trump and Kim Jong-un meet for their second summit in Hanoi, will there be serious consideration given to what concrete actions can be taken to protect and advance a health and humanitarian agenda that can directly benefit North Korea’s impoverished majority and reduce the threat of a runaway tuberculosis (TB) outbreak? Perhaps. Certainly, let’s hope so. There is much that can be done.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Health, Poverty, and Humanitarian Crisis
Political Geography:
Asia, North Korea, North America, and United States of America

40. Harnessing Multilateral Financing for Health Security Preparedness

Author:
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Publication Date:
04-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
Abstract:
The economic consequences of large-scale disease outbreaks can be enormous: pandemics could cause $570 billion per year in average economic losses over the coming decades. Health security threats have an especially destructive impact on development investments and GDP in low-income and lower-middle-income countries (LICs and LMICs): the 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak in West Africa wiped out nearly five years of existing investments in the region, gravely setting back the region’s future development prospects. By contrast, upgrading countries’ preparedness is relatively inexpensive and affordable; recent data demonstrates most countries would need to spend approximately $0.50-$1.50 per person per year to get an acceptable level of epidemic preparedness. The financing gap for preparedness is one of the starkest problems in health security, especially among LICs and LMICs. That gap is estimated at $4.5 billion per year. Investments in preparedness are cost-effective and affordable, but low-income and lower-middle-income country governments continue to underinvest at dangerously low levels. These governments bear lead responsibility for addressing financing gaps, but external funding can be catalytic. At present, there is no financing mechanism and no adequate incentive structure to motivate governments in high-risk countries to invest in preparedness, particularly when those investments compete with more visible priorities such as education, housing, transport infrastructure, and other pressing health needs. As a consequence, countries remain ill-prepared and vulnerable to the persistent threat of pandemics and large-scale disease outbreaks. The World Bank Group’s International Development Association (IDA) replenishment takes place every three years and presents a choice opportunity to make adjustments that reflect important emerging priorities. In the current IDA19 replenishment, stakeholders can take a major step towards closing the preparedness financing gap by incentivizing $1 billion or more per year in preparedness investments in LICs and LMICs.
Topic:
Security, Health, Multilateralism, and Public Health
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America