Year: 2021

Perceived Efficacy of HIV Treatment-as-Prevention Among University Students in Johannesburg, South Africa

Ten years ago, the medical community received conclusive results demonstrating that antiretroviral therapy (ART) is effective at preventing the sexual transmission of HIV. ART has traditionally been used to manage HIV symptoms in people living with the virus, but the strategy of treating HIV-positive individuals with ART to prevent transmission—a strategy known as treatment-as-prevention (TasP)—has […]

Webinar Summary: Shrinking Policy Space in International Trade – A Conversation with Rachel Thrasher and Ha-Joon Chang

By Katie Gallogly-Swan On Friday, November 19, Rachel Thrasher, researcher and legal expert of the Boston University Global Development Policy Center hosted a conversation with Ha-Joon Chang, renowned economist and prolific author, including the landmark book, Kicking Away the Ladder: Development Strategy in Historical Context. The conversation centered on Thrasher’s new book, Constraining Development: the Shrinking […]

Webinar Summary: Make or Break? Mainstreaming Climate Policy at the IMF

By Rishikesh Ram Bhandary With its universal role and influence over economic policy, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) can make or break countries’ climate-related commitments. The IMF has the mandate to safeguard the stability of the global financial and monetary system. How the IMF pursues its mandate while facilitating action on climate change is a […]

Chart of the Week: Triaging the Global Vaccination Effort

By Samantha Igo As of late 2021, nearly 60 percent of the United States has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, with similar levels of inoculation across the European Union and other wealthy nations. In stark contrast, just 5 percent of people across all low-income countries have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. […]

How the International Trade and Investment Regime Constrains Pandemic Policymaking – And What Global Leaders Can Do About It

By Rachel Thrasher As COVID-19 has taken millions of lives, governments around the globe have attempted to quickly mobilize and mitigate the health, social and economic impacts of the pandemic. Pandemic-responsive policy interventions ranging from subsidies to trade restrictions, and investment measures to government procurement initiatives, have taken precedence over traditional policy preferences that would […]

Policy Responses to COVID-19: Lessons for the Global Trade and Investment Regime

As COVID-19 has taken millions of lives around the globe, governments everywhere have attempted to quickly mobilize to mitigate the health, social and economic impacts of the pandemic. COVID-responsive policy interventions ranging from subsidies to trade restrictions, and investment measures to government procurement initiatives, have taken precedence over traditional policy preferences that would favor market-oriented […]

Financing Forest Protection Without Fueling the Debt Crisis

By Blake Alexander Simmons and Rebecca Ray Last month, leaders from over 130 countries endorsed the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), pledging to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030. This comes on the heels of another agreement, the Kunming Declaration from the Convention on Biological […]

7 Opportunities for Making the Most of Development Finance after COP26

By Rishikesh Ram Bhandary and Katie Gallogly-Swan While the outcome of COP26 was far from meeting shared climate goals, there are abundant opportunities to drive change and advance development and climate goals in the coming year. Governments, development finance institutions and civil society must use the achievements in Glasgow as a launch pad for concrete […]

Top of COP: Outcomes for Development Finance and Global Economic Governance

By Rishikesh Ram Bhandary and Katie Gallogly-Swan Amid a flurry of high-level plurilateral commitments and late-night negotiations, the Glasgow Climate Pact of the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) was agreed on Saturday, November 13 with the drop of the gavel. Additional pledges and commitments put global warming on track to reach between a […]