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11. Venezuela’s Crisis Is Now a Regional Humanitarian Disaster

Author:
Moises Rendon and Mark L Schneider
Publication Date:
03-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:
The Issue Venezuela has been subjected to an unprecedented man-made humanitarian crisis, including extreme food and medicine shortages, thousands of children dying of malnutrition, and malnourished people contracting formerly eradicated diseases. While Venezuela’s dictatorial regime has repeatedly rejected humanitarian aid from the outside, the country’s humanitarian, economic, social, and institutional collapse, along with fierce political repression, have caused 1.2 million Venezuelans to flee the country over the past two years, with hundreds of thousands more and possibly millions expected to flee in the future. Our Recommendations Encourage the United States and other like-minded countries to provide leadership on the diplomatic and assistance fronts to help respond to this crisis. Work to build consensus within the international community on the urgency of the Venezuelan humanitarian crisis and to agree on steps to address the crisis, including convening a high-level task force. Develop a comprehensive policy response that includes immediate relief efforts on Venezuela’s border with Colombia and within Venezuela using innovative mechanisms due to the current limited humanitarian access. Provide immediate technical assistance to help estimate the level of need and identify available resources. Support and engage civil society and local actors, including nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), the private sector, and entrepreneurs, as well as the Venezuelan diaspora community, to help limit the suffering of the Venezuelan people. Encourage host countries to grant temporary protected status to Venezuelans and create a broader burden-sharing arrangement in the region for processing those seeking refuge, following the recent guidelines by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Support the use of innovative technology tools, such as blockchain and digital currencies, to facilitate distribution of aid within and beyond Venezuela.
Topic:
Health, Poverty, United Nations, Food, and Humanitarian Crisis
Political Geography:
United States, South America, and Venezuela

12. ACKNOWLEDGING THE FLEXIBILITIES OF THE TRIPS AGREEMENT: ENSURING THE RIGHT TO ACCESS TO MEDICINES OR A STRATEGY OF PASSIVE REVOLUTION?

Author:
Sevgi BALKAN-ŞAHİN
Publication Date:
10-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Alternative Politics
Institution:
Department of International Relations, Abant Izzet Baysal University, Turkey
Abstract:
The Doha Ministerial Declaration on the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement and Public Health adopted in November 2001 clarified the right to use the TRIPS flexibilities to promote public health. Examining the hegemonic struggle of opposing social forces from a neo-Gramscian perspective, the paper attributes this outcome to the strategy of trasformismo used by market-oriented social forces to legitimize the policies of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and prevent resistance against the market-driven TRIPS Agreement. It argues that although non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as Medecins Sans Frontieres, Third World Network, and Oxfam worked as a counter-hegemonic force to ensure the access of least developed countries to generic versions of patented drugs, flexibilities confirmed by the Doha Declaration can be seen more as a strategy of trasformismo to absorb counter-hegemonic ideas than the counter-hegemonic groups’ successful incorporation of the right to ensure public health into the TRIPS Agreement.
Topic:
Health, World Trade Organization, Hegemony, Health Care Policy, NGOs, and Public Health
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, Asia, and North America

13. IMPOTENT WARRIORS Perspectives on Gulf War Syndrome, Vulnerability and Masculinity

Author:
Susie Kilshaw
Publication Date:
01-2018
Content Type:
Book
Institution:
Berghahn Books
Abstract:
Gulf began to surface. This mysterious illness was given the name “Gulf War Syndrome” (GWS). This book is an investigation into this recently emergent illness, particularly relevant given ongoing UK deployments to Iraq, describing how the illness became a potent symbol for a plethora of issues, anxieties, and concerns. At present, the debate about GWS is polarized along two lines: there are those who think it is a unique, organic condition caused by Gulf War toxins and those who argue that it is probably a psychological condition that can be seen as part of a larger group of illnesses. Using the methods and perspective of anthropology, with its focus on nuances and subtleties, the author provides a new approach to understanding GWS, one that makes sense of the cultural circumstances, specific and general, which gave rise to the illness.
Topic:
Health, Gulf War, Masculinity, and PTSD
Political Geography:
United States, Iraq, United Kingdom, Europe, and Middle East

14. What Is the Status of Women’s Health and Health Care in the U.S. Compared to Ten Other Countries?

Author:
Sara R. Collins, Shanoor Seervai, Roosa Tikkanen, and Munira Z. Gunja
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
The Commonwealth Fund
Abstract:
Women in the United States have long lagged behind their counterparts in other high-income countries in terms of access to health care and health status. This brief compares U.S. women’s health status, affordability of health plans, and ability to access and utilize care with women in 10 other high-income countries by using international data.
Topic:
Health, Health Care Policy, Women, and Reproductive Health
Political Geography:
United States and Global Focus

15. Socio-cultural Factors Influencing the Ebola Virus Disease-related Stigma among African Immigrants in the United States

Author:
Guy-Lucien S. Whembolua, Donaldson Conserve, and Daudet Ilunga Tshiswaka
Publication Date:
12-2017
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Ìrìnkèrindò: a Journal of African Migration
Abstract:
African immigrants, one of the fastest-growing immigrant populations in the United States (U.S.), face many unique challenges. Since December 2013, the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) has been claiming lives and altering the societies of origin of West and Central African immigrants. Using the PEN-3 cultural model, a thematic analysis of mainstream U.S. news media was conducted to assess the socio-cultural factors influencing EVD-related stigma experienced by African immigrants. Results of this analysis revealed the perceptions and enabling/nurturing factors that exacerbated or prevented EVD-related stigma. Future interventions designed to address stigma experienced by African immigrants should include EVD-related stigma.
Topic:
Health, Migration, Infectious Diseases, and Ebola
Political Geography:
Africa and United States

16. Paying for Prescription Drugs Around the World: Why Is the U.S. an Outlier?

Author:
Shawn Bishop, David Squires, and Dana O. Sarnak
Publication Date:
10-2017
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
The Commonwealth Fund
Abstract:
arious factors contribute to high per capita drug spending in the U.S. While drug utilization appears to be similar in the U.S. and the nine other countries considered, the prices at which drugs are sold in the U.S. are substantially higher. These price differences appear to at least partly explain current and historical disparities in spending on pharmaceutical drugs. U.S. consumers face particularly high out-of-pocket costs, both because the U.S. has a large uninsured population and because cost-sharing requirements for those with coverage are more burdensome than in other countries. Most Americans support reducing pharmaceutical costs. International experience demonstrates that policies like universal health coverage, insurance benefit design that restricts out-of-pocket spending, and certain price control strategies, like centralized price negotiations, can be effective.
Topic:
Health, Health Care Policy, and Drugs
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, and Global Focus

17. Designing a High-Performing Health Care System for Patients with Complex Needs: Ten Recommendations for Policymakers

Publication Date:
09-2017
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
The Commonwealth Fund
Abstract:
Health care costs are heavily concentrated among people with multiple health problems. Often, these are older adults living with frailty, advanced illness, or other complex conditions. In 2014, the New York–based Commonwealth Fund, a private, independent foundation, established the International Experts Working Group on Patients with Complex Needs through a grant to the London School of Economics and Political Science. The group’s purpose was to outline the prerequisites of a high-performing health care system for “high-need, high-cost” patients and to identify promising international innovations in health care delivery for meeting needs of these patients. Drawing on international experience, quantitative and qualitative evidence, and its members’ collective expertise in policy and program design, implementation, and evaluation, the international working group sought to articulate the principles that underpin high performance for this complex population in health systems around the world.
Topic:
Health and Health Care Policy
Political Geography:
United States and Global Focus

18. Mirror, Mirror 2017: International Comparison Reflects Flaws and Opportunities fo

Author:
Michelle M. Doty, Arnav Shah, David Squires, Dana O. Sarnak, and Eric C. Schneider
Publication Date:
07-2017
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
The Commonwealth Fund
Abstract:
The U.S. ranked last on performance overall, and ranked last or near last on the Access, Administrative Efficiency, Equity, and Health Care Outcomes domains. The top-ranked countries overall were the U.K., Australia, and the Netherlands. Based on a broad range of indicators, the U.S. health system is an outlier, spending far more but falling short of the performance achieved by other high-income countries. The results suggest the U.S. health care system should look at other countries’ approaches if it wants to achieve an affordable high-performing health care system that serves all Americans.
Topic:
Health and Health Care Policy
Political Geography:
United States and Global Focus

19. International Profiles of Health Care Systems

Author:
Elias Mossialos, Ana Djordjevic, Robin Osborn, and Dana O. Sarnak
Publication Date:
05-2017
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
The Commonwealth Fund
Abstract:
This publication presents overviews of the health care systems of Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, England, France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United States. Each overview covers health insurance, public and private financing, health system organization and governance, health care quality and coordination, disparities, efficiency and integration, use of information technology and evidence-based practice, cost containment, and recent reforms and innovations. In addition, summary tables provide data on a number of key health system characteristics and performance indicators, including overall health care spending, hospital spending and utilization, health care access, patient safety, care coordination, chronic care management, disease prevention, capacity for quality improvement, and public views.
Topic:
Health and Health Care Policy
Political Geography:
United States and Global Focus

20. How High-Need Patients Experience the Health Care System in Nine Countries

Author:
Dana O. Sarnak and Jamie Ryan
Publication Date:
01-2016
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
The Commonwealth Fund
Abstract:
U.S. health care costs are disproportionately concentrated among older adults with multiple chronic conditions or functional limitations—a population often referred to as “high-need” patients. This analysis uses data from the Commonwealth Fund 2014 International Health Policy Survey of Older Adults to investigate health care use, quality, and experiences among high-need patients in nine countries compared with other older adults. High-need patients use a greater amount of health care services and also experience more coordination problems and financial barriers to care compared with other older adults. Disparities are particularly pronounced in the United States. The comparative success of other countries, particularly in reducing financial barriers to care, may be a product of policies that specifically target high-need patients. Similarly focusing on these populations in the U.S. and effectively managing their care may improve their health status while reducing overall costs.
Topic:
Health and Health Care Policy
Political Geography:
United States and Global Focus