China’s Foreign Aid Political Drivers: Lessons from a Novel Dataset of Mask Diplomacy in Latin America during the COVID-19 Pandemic
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SUBMITTER: Telias D
PROVIDER: S-EPMC9264378 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Although many countries engage in public diplomacy, we know relatively little about the conditions under which their efforts create foreign support for their desired policy outcomes. Drawing on the psychological theory of "insincerity aversion," we argue that the positive effects of public diplomacy on foreign public opinion are attenuated and potentially even eliminated when foreign citizens become suspicious about possible hidden motives. To test this theory, we fielded a survey experiment involving divergent media frames of a real Russian medical donation to the U.S. early in the COVID-19 pandemic. We find that an adapted news article excerpt describing Russia's donation as genuine can decrease American citizens' support for sanctions on Russia. However, exposing respondents to information suggesting that Russia had political motivations for their donation is enough to cancel out the positive effect. Our findings suggest theoretical implications for the literature on foreign public opinion in international relations, particularly about the circumstances under which countries can manipulate the attitudes of other countries' citizens.Supplementary informationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11109-022-09849-4.
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Project description:BackgroundSeven years after the commitment to United Nations' call for Universal Health Coverage, healthcare services in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico are generally accessible and affordable; but they still struggle to meet population health demands and address the rising health care costs. We aim to describe measures taken by these four countries to commit by Universal Health Coverage, addressing their barriers and challenges.MethodsScoping literature review, supplemented with targeted stakeholders survey.ResultsThe four countries analysed achieved an overall index of essential coverage of 76-77%, and households out of pocket health expenditures fall below 25%. Services coverage was improved by expanding access to primary healthcare systems and coverage for non-communicable diseases, while provided community outreach by the increase in the number of skilled healthcare workers. New pharmaceutical support programs provided access to treatments for chronic conditions at zero cost, while high-costs drugs and cancer treatments were partially guaranteed. However, the countries lack with effective financial protection mechanisms, that continue to increase out of pocket expenditure as noted by lowest financial protection scores, and lack of effective financial mechanisms besides cash transfers.ConclusionsArgentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico have made progress towards UHC. Although, better financial protection is urgently required.
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Project description:Heavy truck drivers represent a social group of great importance to any country's economy. Their professional activity requires a high level of dedication. Due to the irregular hours in their work routine and adopted habits, they mostly predispose them to a diversity of health problems. The purpose of this study is to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis aiming to identify the prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, and obesity in Latin American Truck Drivers. We searched the PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus and LILACS databases, for scientific publications articles, as reported by The PRISMA Statement. From 1,382, 7 studies were included according to the established criteria. The hypertension prevalence found was 34.2%, diabetes was of 9.2% and the highest prevalence found was for overweight and obesity (56%). Meta-analysis presented that drivers have a higher prevalence of overweight or obesity when compared to eutrophic individuals and that drivers with diabetes and hyperglycemia have a lower prevalence. Due to their work activity, their access to the health system is compromised limiting any type of monitoring of their health. This study showed that there is, in Latin America, an investment and assistance gap, both in the health sector and in the research section, for this professional category, which is so important to the economy of these countries. These data should help to identify the difficulties faced by this professional in health assistance, road safety, public safety, leisure and social life. This research also highlighted that they are young and already have the first sign of non-transmissible chronic diseases, which is overweight and obesity.
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Project description:Consistent with the diversity of Latin America, there is profound variability in asthma burden among and within countries in this region. Regional variation in asthma prevalence is likely multifactorial and due to genetics, perinatal exposures, diet, obesity, tobacco use, indoor and outdoor pollutants, psychosocial stress and microbial or parasitic infections. Similarly, non-uniform progress in asthma management leads to regional variability in disease morbidity. Future studies of distinct asthma phenotypes should follow-up well-characterised Latin American subgroups and examine risk factors that are unique or common in Latin America (eg, stress and violence, parasitic infections and use of biomass fuels for cooking). Because most Latin American countries share the same barriers to asthma management, concerted and multifaceted public health and research efforts are needed, including approaches to curtail tobacco use, campaigns to improve asthma treatment, broadening access to care and clinical trials of non-pharmacological interventions (eg, replacing biomass fuels with gas or electric stoves).
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Project description:IntroductionDisagreement and conflict are inevitable among members of clinical teams, as well as with patients and families during the course of medical care. Despite the importance of physicians needing to negotiate and resolve conflicts, best practices for teaching these skills have not been established in a clinical setting.MethodsWe developed teaching tools based on a conflict resolution model from the business world, emphasizing team dynamics and employing a structured, hierarchical approach to conflict resolution that preserves interpersonal relationships. We employed lessons from diplomacy and improvisational theatre to underscore nonverbal cues that improve communication during conflict. We prepared instructions for teaching conflict management and conflict resolution styles, small-group negotiations, case-based clinical scenarios, personal reflection, and facilitated debrief. The tools are customizable based on audience and available instructional time.ResultsWe implemented this resource for over 2 years with 20 pediatric residents and over 150 educators and fellows at national meetings. Participants reported that the topic was timely and important and identified the conflict resolution hierarchy, attention to conflict resolution styles, use of case-based discussion, and focus on nonverbal communication as effective and valuable elements.DiscussionThis resource has been refined over five cycles of presentation and feedback with learners and educators. Our participants identified themes of conflicts in clinical settings that informed the case scenarios presented here, including interdisciplinary conflicts, ethical conflicts, and conflicts among members of the educational hierarchy. These tools are designed to meet established national educational priorities related to communication and professionalism across the educational continuum.
| S-EPMC6342419 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The Latin America and Caribbean region exhibit some of the lowest undernutrition rates globally. Yet, disparities exist between and within countries and countries in the region increasingly face other pressing nutritional concerns, including overweight, micronutrient deficiencies and inadequate child feeding practices. This paper reports findings from a regional analysis to identify the determinants and drivers of children’s diets, with a focus on the complementary feeding window between the age of 6–23 months. The analysis consists of a narrative review and descriptive data analysis, complemented with qualitative interviews with key informants in four countries: Guatemala, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. Findings indicate that poverty and inequality (disparities within countries by wealth and residence), unequal access to services, inadequate coverage of social programmes and lack of awareness on appropriate feeding practices are important drivers for inadequate diets. We conclude that countries in the region need to invest in policies to tackle overweight and micronutrient deficiencies in young children, considering inequalities between and within countries, enhance coverage of social protection programmes, improve coordination between sectors to improve children’s diets and expand the coverage and intensity of awareness campaigns on feeding practices, using iterative programme designs.
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Project description:Deeply investigating the relationship between governance, financial development, and outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) is beneficial to formulating effective policies to accelerate Chinese firms' pace of overseas expansion. Based on the theoretical mechanism analysis, this paper empirically analyzes the impact of Asian governance and financial development on China's OFDI using the panel data of 37 Asian countries from 2003 to 2017. The results show that the host country governance has a negative and statistically significant impact on China's direct investment in Asia. The conclusion remains valid even after overcoming the interference of endogenous and economic cycle fluctuations. Moreover, using the mediating effect model, we find that financial development is an important channel through which host country governance affects China's OFDI. In further discussion, the findings suggest that with the scale of OFDI expanding, the role of governance takes an inverted "U" shape, and the "Belt and Road" initiative (BRI) weakens the negative impact of governance quality on China's OFDI. Furthermore, governance has shown more remarkable restraint on China's OFDI in neighboring, coastal, and low-income countries in the heterogeneity test. From the perspective of host country governance, this paper provides more specific guidance to formulate China's direct investment policy in Asia.
| S-EPMC9246154 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectiveThere is evidence linking the built environment (BE) with physical activity (PA), but few studies have been conducted in Latin America (LA). State-of-the-art methods and protocols have been designed in and applied in high-income countries (HIC). In this paper, we identify key challenges and potential solutions to conducting high-quality PA and BE research in LA.MethodsThe experience of implementing the IPEN data collection protocol (IPEN: International Physical Activity Environment Network) in Curitiba, Brazil; Bogotá, Colombia; and Cuernavaca, Mexico (2010-2011); is described to identify challenges for conducting PA and BE research in LA.ResultsFive challenges were identified: lack of academic capacity (implemented solutions (IS): building a strong international collaborative network); limited data availability, access and quality (IS: partnering with influential local institutions, and crafting creative solutions to use the best-available data); socio-political, socio-cultural and socio-economic context (IS: in-person recruitment and data collection, alternative incentives); safety (IS: strict rules for data collection procedures, and specific measures to increase trust); and appropriateness of instruments and measures (IS: survey adaptation, use of standardized additional survey components, and employing a context-based approach to understanding the relationship between PA and the BE). Advantages of conducting PA and BE research in LA were also identified.ConclusionsConducting high-quality PA and BE research in LA is challenging but feasible. Networks of institutions and researchers from both HIC and LMIC play a key role. The lessons learned from the IPEN LA study may be applicable to other LMIC.
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Project description:The eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) and Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) viruses are pathogens that infect humans and horses in the Americas. Outbreaks of neurologic disease in humans and horses were reported in Panama from May through early August 2010.We performed antibody assays and tests to detect viral RNA and isolate the viruses in serum samples from hospitalized patients. Additional cases were identified with enhanced surveillance.A total of 19 patients were hospitalized for encephalitis. Among them, 7 had confirmed EEE, 3 had VEE, and 1 was infected with both viruses; 3 patients died, 1 of whom had confirmed VEE. The clinical findings for patients with EEE included brain lesions, seizures that evolved to status epilepticus, and neurologic sequelae. An additional 99 suspected or probable cases of alphavirus infection were detected during active surveillance. In total, 13 cases were confirmed as EEE, along with 11 cases of VEE and 1 case of dual infection. A total of 50 cases in horses were confirmed as EEE and 8 as VEE; mixed etiologic factors were associated with 11 cases in horses. Phylogenetic analyses of isolates from 2 cases of equine infection with the EEE virus and 1 case of human infection with the VEE virus indicated that the viruses were of enzootic lineages previously identified in Panama rather than new introductions.Cases of EEE in humans in Latin America may be the result of ecologic changes that increased human contact with enzootic transmission cycles, genetic changes in EEE viral strains that resulted in increased human virulence, or an altered host range. (Funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Secretaría Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación, Panama.).
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