Financial support failure and health results: The Peruvian case.

The paper shed the light in analyzing the efficiency of Peruvian Government Financial Support in comparison with some countries in the Latin American Region and worldwide. The Covid 19 Pandemic enforced governments to apply the "Hammer Blow" which affected negatively the economy producing recession and unemployment. Governments offset the latter effect by applying subsidy policies to the Poor and then reduce the negative economic consequences of the general lockdown without getting COVID. Our study performs a Difference and Difference Model (DID) to evaluate the effectiveness of the latter policy.

On the role of financial support programs in mitigating the SARS-CoV-2 spread in Brazil.

BACKGROUND: During 2020, there were no effective treatments or vaccines against SARS-CoV-2. The most common disease contention measures were social distance (social isolation), the use of face masks and lockdowns. In the beginning, numerous countries have succeeded to control and reduce COVID-19 infections at a high economic cost. Thus, to alleviate such side effects, many countries have implemented socioeconomic programs to fund individuals that lost their jobs and to help endangered businesses to survive. METHODS: We assess the role of a socioeconomic program, so-called "Auxilio Emergencial" (AE), during 2020 as a measure to mitigate the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in Brazil. For each Brazilian State, we estimate the time-dependent reproduction number from daily reports of COVID-19 infections and deaths using a Susceptible-Exposed-Infected-Recovered-like (SEIR-like) model. Then, we analyse the correlations between the reproduction number, the amount of individuals receiving governmental aid, and the index of social isolation based on mobile phone information. RESULTS: We observed significant positive correlation values between the average values by the AE and median values of an index accounting for individual mobility. We also observed significantly negative correlation values between the reproduction number and this index on individual mobility. Using the simulations of a susceptible-exposed-infected-removed-like model, if the AE was not operational during the first wave of COVID-19 infections, the accumulated number of infections and deaths could be 6.5 (90% CI: 1.3-21) and 7.9 (90% CI: 1.5-23) times higher, respectively, in comparison with the actual implementation of AE. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that the AE implemented in Brazil had a significant influence on social isolation by allowing those in need to stay at home, which would reduce the expected numbers of infections and deaths.

Leaping Forwards, Bouncing Forwards, or Just Bouncing Back: Resilience in Environmental Public Agencies Through after the Austerity Decade.

The resilience of public environmental agencies is an important but broadly under-researched discourse. This paper addresses this lacuna by drawing on a three-part typology of resilience from organizational studies and applying it to the English natural environment agency, Natural England, following a decade of public sector agency de-funding under the aegis of austerity. The research question was explored qualitatively through eleven semi-structured interviews with the senior management team of Natural England during the summer of 2020. The findings suggest that public agency multi-functionality equate to heterogenous resilience across agency functions; that generally agency resilience (as a function of capacities) is poor with consequences upon good governance; and that they are broadly poorly positioned for the aftermath of Covid-19. The findings speak directly to the regulatory and organizational literatures with public administration by evidencing the complex realities of understanding resiliencies in large multi-functional public environmental agencies.

Biodefence research two decades on: worth the investment?

For the past 20 years, the notion of bioterror has been a source of considerable fear and panic worldwide. In response to the terror attacks of 2001 in the USA, extensive research funding was awarded to investigate bioterror-related pathogens. The global scientific legacy of this funding has extended into the present day, highlighted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Unsurprisingly, the surge in biodefence-related research and preparedness has been met with considerable apprehension and opposition. Here, we briefly outline the history of modern bioterror threats and biodefence research, describe the scientific legacy of biodefence research by highlighting advances pertaining to specific bacterial and viral pathogens, and summarise the future of biodefence research and its relevance today. We sought to address the sizeable question: have the past 20 years of investment into biodefence research and preparedness been worth it? The legacy of modern biodefence funding includes advancements in biosecurity, biosurveillence, diagnostics, medical countermeasures, and vaccines. In summary, we feel that these advances justify the substantial biodefence funding trend of the past two decades and set a precedent for future funding.

Early Crowdfunding Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Cross-sectional Study.

BACKGROUND: As the number of COVID-19 cases increased precipitously in the United States, policy makers and health officials marshalled their pandemic responses. As the economic impacts multiplied, anecdotal reports noted the increased use of web-based crowdfunding to defray these costs. OBJECTIVE: We examined the web-based crowdfunding response in the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States to understand the incidence of initiation of COVID-19-related campaigns and compare them to non-COVID-19-related campaigns. METHODS: On May 16, 2020, we extracted all available data available on US campaigns that contained narratives and were created between January 1 and May 10, 2020, on GoFundMe. We identified the subset of COVID-19-related campaigns using keywords relevant to the COVID-19 pandemic. We explored the incidence of COVID-19-related campaigns by geography, by category, and over time, and we compared the characteristics of the campaigns to those of non-COVID-19-related campaigns after March 11, when the pandemic was declared. We then used a natural language processing algorithm to cluster campaigns by narrative content using overlapping keywords. RESULTS: We found that there was a substantial increase in overall GoFundMe web-based crowdfunding campaigns in March, largely attributable to COVID-19-related campaigns. However, as the COVID-19 pandemic persisted and progressed, the number of campaigns per COVID-19 case declined more than tenfold across all states. The states with the earliest disease burden had the fewest campaigns per case, indicating a lack of a case-dependent response. COVID-19-related campaigns raised more money, had a longer narrative description, and were more likely to be shared on Facebook than other campaigns in the study period. CONCLUSIONS: Web-based crowdfunding appears to be a stopgap for only a minority of campaigners. The novelty of an emergency likely impacts both campaign initiation and crowdfunding success, as it reflects the affective response of a community. Crowdfunding activity likely serves as an early signal for emerging needs and societal sentiment for communities in acute distress that could be used by governments and aid organizations to guide disaster relief and policy.

A diagonal and social protection plus approach to meet the challenges of the COVID-19 syndemic: cash transfers and intimate partner violence interventions in Latin America.

Latin America has been particularly hard hit by the COVID-19 syndemic, including the associated economic fallout that has threatened the livelihoods of most families. Social protection platforms and policies should have a crucial role in safeguarding individual and family wellbeing; however, the response has been insufficient to address the scale of the crisis. In this Viewpoint, we focus on two policy challenges of the COVID-19 syndemic: rapidly and effectively providing financial support to the many families that lost livelihoods, and responding to and mitigating the increased risk of intimate partner violence (IPV). We argue that building programmatic linkages between social protection platforms, particularly cash transfers, and IPV prevention, mitigation, and response services, creates synergies that can promote freedom from both poverty and violence.

Role of Government Financial Support and Vulnerability Characteristics Associated with Food Insecurity during the COVID-19 Pandemic among Young Peruvians.

Peruvian households have experienced one of the most prevalent economic shocks due to COVID-19, significantly increasing their vulnerability to food insecurity (FI). To understand the vulnerability characteristics of these households among the Peruvian young population, including the role of the government's response through emergency cash transfer, we analysed longitudinal data from the Young Lives study (n = 2026), a study that follows the livelihoods of two birth cohorts currently aged 18 to 27 years old. FI was assessed using the Food Insecurity Experience Scale. Household characteristics were collected before and during the COVID-19 outbreak in Peru to characterise participants' vulnerability to FI. Multivariate logistic regression was used to evaluate the association between government support and participants' vulnerability characteristics to FI. During the period under study (March to December 2020), 24% (95% CI: 22.1-25.9%) of the participants experienced FI. Families in the top wealth tercile were 49% less likely to experience FI. Larger families (>5 members) and those with increased household expenses and decreased income due to COVID-19 were more likely to experience FI (by 35%, 39% and 42%, respectively). There was no significant association between government support and FI (p = 0.768). We conclude that pre-pandemic socioeconomic status, family size, and the economic disruption during COVID-19 contribute to the risk of FI among the Peruvian young population, while government support insufficiently curtailed the risk to these households.

Characteristics of Clinical Trials Launched Early in the COVID-19 Pandemic in the US and in France.

Based on hierarchical classification and logistic regression of early US and French COVID-19 clinical trials we show that despite the registration of a large number of trials, only a minority had characteristics usually associated with providing robust and relevant evidence.