Análisis de la Hipótesis de Mercados Eficientes y el impacto del COVID-19 en los países de América Latina y el Caribe

The burden of hematological malignancies in Latin America and the Caribbean: A 30-year global burden of disease analysis

In the last decade, the socioeconomic relationship between Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and the People´s Republic of China has increased massively. How has this new qualitative relationship between LAC and China affected inequality in LAC? This paper highlights the degrees of concentration of trade since the 1990s until 2011 and its technological content. Future research will have to deepen this relationship at the national, regional and even firm-level. Based on a brief critical review of the relationship between trade and equality/inequality, the document analyzes several of the outstanding features of the booming trade relationship between LAC and China. It concludes, among other issues, that both academics and policy makers have to overcome the bias against the agricultural sector and natural resources based on the concepts of global commodity chains, systemic competitiveness and territorial endogeneity. In addition, one of the most striking features of the new LAC-China trade is its increasing concentration, both compared with historical levels of LAC-China trade, as well as with the rest of the world, a development that will affect inequality in LAC substantially. It is not “old wine in new bottles”, but rather a new socioeconomic relationship with dynamic and profound impacts in LAC that will have to be considered in more detail by scholars and policy makers in the future.

In 2014, during a visit to Havana after travelling to Brazil for the Sixth BRICS summit, Chinese president Xi Jinping visited Havana and gave Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro seeds of the moringa plant as a new symbol of bilateral friendship. Not long before the meeting, the two countries had signed a cooperation agreement on the research and cultivation of moringa, named as the Plant of the Year 2008 by the National Institute of Health in the U.S. for its high nutritional value. Chinese scientists consider the plant a promising source of proteins, vitamins, and minerals nutrition for both farm animals and humans. In order to advance cooperation in moringa, the Cuban and Chinese governments set up two complementary research centres – the Moringa Science & Technology Cooperation Center at the Tropical Crop Research Institute of Yunnan in China and the Institute of Pasture and Forage of the Ministry of Agriculture of Cuba – to lead and implement collaborative projects (CMoA, 2014). The moringa project is a far cry from the usual imaginary of China-LACagricultural trade and investment, which has focused heavily on soybeans. Hence it hints not only at an intensification of China’s role in the agricultural sector in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), but also a gradual diversification of these ties. This chapter asks why agricultural cooperation and food trade relations between China and LAC have evolved since the turn of the millennium, and analyses the implications of this trend for LAC. As LAC becomes an increasingly important component of China’s globalized food strategy, the dual processes of intensification and diversification pose new social and environmental challenges within LAC. China’s agricultural ‘Go Out’ strategy, as manifested in expanding invest-ments in LAC, is in line with the government’s changing policy mentality on national food security caused by the Chinese population’s growing demand and shifting consumption patterns accompanying urbanization and the expansion of the middle classes. Consequently, the Chinese government has played a proactive role in opening up new channels and establishing mechanisms to facilitate and diversify investments. Indeed, in May 2015,during a four-country tour of Latin America (Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Chile), Chinese premier Li Keqiang announced China’s plan to invest tens of billions in the region’s agriculture, among other sectors (Reuters Beijing, 2015). At the same time, Chinese companies would also invest in LAC infrastructure to ensure the delivery of export-bound grains and other agricultural products to China. Against this backdrop, LAC’s importance as a producer and net exporter ofagricultural commodities – the region’s agricultural heterogeneity notwithstanding – has made it an increasingly vital frontier for China’s agricultural ‘Go Out’ policy. Although LAC itself faces growing contradictions due to poor distribution channels, rich yet poorly utilized natural endowments, and increasing environmental and climate change challenges, its agricultural production is expected to further expand in coming years, making the region essential to fulfil China’s goal of improving supply of grains and other agricultural products. For LAC, these investments look promising insofar as they can continue tofuel trade, generate prosperity and improve the region’s sorely lacking infrastructure. However, two key challenges lie ahead. First, this model of engagement reinforces pre-existing patterns of investment in export-oriented agricultural production and its associated social grievances and environmental pressures. To mitigate social and environmental costs, LAC stakeholders must better leverage their role in China’s food security and overseas investment. Second, owing to the limited impact of the proposed infrastructure – aimed at ensuring transport of commodities from inland regions to seaports – on regional integration, LAC stakeholders must negotiate deals with China with regional priorities in mind, rather than individual bilateral initiatives. However, these responses must take into account not only the heterogeneity of the region itself, but also the widely varying forms of China’s involvement in LAC agriculture. The chapter is structured as follows. The first part explains Chinese inves-tors growing interest in LAC agriculture, as well as the growing importance of LAC to China’s food security policy. The second part shows the changing patterns of Chinese investments in LAC agriculture over time, and the kinds of reaction on the part of LAC stakeholders. The last part discusses the key implications that the dual movement of intensification and diversification of China-LAC agricultural ties has for the region.

América Latina y el Caribe (ALC) es una región en rápido crecimiento con casi 600 millones de habitantes compuesta por México, América Central y del Sur y las islas del Caribe. Las Américas fueron habitadas por primera vez por personas que cruzaron el Puente de la Tierra de Bering desde el noreste de Asia hacia Alaska hace más de 10,000 años. Los nativos americanos descienden de al menos tres corrientes de flujo genético asiático. Los europeos llegaron después de 1492 siguiendo los viajes de Cristóbal Colón. Los africanos fueron capturados y llevados a América por el comercio transatlántico de esclavos del siglo XVI al XIX. Por lo tanto, la población de ALC comprende una variedad de ancestros, grupos étnicos y razas, lo que hace de la región una de las más diversas del mundo. La composición específica varía de un país a otro: muchos tienen un predominio de la población europea-nativa americana o mestiza; en otros, los nativos americanos son mayoría; algunos están dominados por habitantes de ascendencia europea; La población de algunos países es principalmente mulata. En menor medida, también se identifican regularmente negros, asiáticos y zambo (mezcla de negros y nativos americanos). Cabe destacar que la autoidentificación étnica es cultural y biológicamente compleja y no está correlacionada con la ascendencia autoinformada, que ya no debe evaluarse mediante un cuestionario, sino mediante el uso de marcadores informativos de ascendencia (AIM) a nivel molecular. (Tomado del cuerpo del escrito)

This paper aims to study whether China’s OFDI has a significant crowding-out effect on the United States’ OFDI in Latin America and the Caribbean （LAC）, and to consider the impact of the Belt and Road Initiative. In the context of the strategic contraction of the United States and the active expansion of China’s global participation, western public opinion is worried about China’s rapidly expanding influence in LAC, the traditional sphere of influence of the United States. As OFDI is an important indicator of a country’s overseas economic activities, the study on whether China’s OFDI is crowding out the United States’ OFDI provides an important reference for judging the state of China-US relations in LAC. This paper uses a panel data set containing 35 LAC countries （regions） from 2003 to 2017, and divides the total sample into two sub-samples respectively according to the scale of natural resource abundance and government efficiency. Based on the gravity model, this paper uses the individual fixed effect model for empirical analysis, and the Spatial Durbin Model （SDM） to test the robustness of the regression results. The regression results of the individual fixed effect model show that, on the whole, every $1 increase in China’s OFDI will lead to a $2.23 increase in the United States’ OFDI. For resource-rich countries and regions, every $1 increase in China’s OFDI will lead to a $1.71 increase in the United States’ OFDI. For resource-poor countries and regions, China’s OFDI has no significant impact on the United States’ OFDI. For countries and regions with high-efficient governments, every $1 increase of China’s OFDI will lead to a $6.31 increase in the United States’ OFDI. However, if the host country and China sign a cooperation document to jointly build the Belt and Road, the promotion effect will be reduced to $0.04. For countries and regions with low-efficient governments, every $1 increase in China’s OFDI will lead to a $2.02 increase in the United States’ OFDI. Therefore, this paper concludes that in LAC, overall, China’s OFDI attracts the United States’ OFDI, and the Belt and Road Initiative has no significant negative impact on the United States’ OFDI, and also has no significant negative impact on the attraction of China’s OFDI to the United States’ OFDI. However, for resource-poor countries and regions in LAC, the positive impact on the attraction of China’s OFDI to the United States’ OFDI is insignificant. For countries and regions with high-efficient governments in LAC, the Belt and Road Initiative weakens the attraction of China’s OFDI to the United States’ OFDI. The regression results of SDM verify this conclusion. The results show that Chinese and American capital can coexist in LAC. In the future, these two countries can strengthen cooperation and deepen mutual trust under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, so as to eliminate the negative impact of the initiative on the United States’ OFDI in some countries and regions. This paper creatively takes the impact of the Belt and Road Initiative into account when studying the crowding-out effect of China’ OFDI, and empirically tests the conjecture that China’s ODFI has crowded out the United States’ OFDI in LAC through econometrics research. It enriches current research ideas in the field of OFDI.

This report examines the health and economic impact of noncommunicable diseases (NCD) in Latin America and the Caribbean and the governance, design, and implementation of multisectoral policies to prevent these conditions. These include polices to improve diets, increase physical activity, and reduce tobacco use and alcohol abuse. The report focuses on how policy decisions involving multi-sectoral interventions to prevent health risk factors are taken, which stakeholders directly or indirectly participate in these decisions, which incentives they face, and what strategies they use in these processes.

After a two-year recession, something last experienced over three decades ago, the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region is growing again. The challenge now is to accelerate and sustain growth to continue making progress on the social front as in the first decade and a half of the new century: between 2000 and 2014 the region managed to reduce poverty (US$4 a day poverty line) from 42.9 percent to 23.3 percent, cutting the number of poor people by 80 million at a time when the Latin American population increased by 100 million. A renewed emphasis on productivity comes up during any discussion of LAC’s growth agenda. After all, labor productivity in the region has stalled at around 30 percent of that of the U.S. Moreover, improvements on the productivity front would result not only in faster growth but also, as basic economic theory suggests, in better salaries for the workforce, therefore further contributing to poverty reduction and shared prosperity. But why is there such a gap in LAC’s productivity with respect to the developed countries? One factor is the large infrastructure investment and service gaps. Infrastructure investments can be a powerful engine for reviving and sustaining growth. A recent regional study on the determinants of growth in LAC indicates that infrastructure has been the main structural driver of growth in the region. Yet, LAC governments are well aware that public resources are not enough to satisfy infrastructure needs, especially in the context of ongoing fiscal adjustments across the region and the enormous need for infrastructure investment: an estimated $180 billion per year investment gap. And LAC governments are also aware that the private sector can play a central role to finance the existing gap. Not surprisingly then, LAC has made considerable strides in attracting private sector investments in infrastructure: the region has the largest stock of active Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) investments and the largest pipeline of infrastructure projects by volume globally, reflecting the central role of the private sector in the regional development agenda. Going forward, LAC countries will benefit from an improved environment for private investments, as well as for further developing a robust pipeline of bankable projects. This report showcases the different ways the World Bank Group has been part of these efforts to support the mobilization of private financing for infrastructure in the region, following what authors call the Cascade approach. These encompass everything from policy and regulatory advice to structuring support, guarantees schemes and financing. Country-specific examples presented in this report illustrate how private financing mobilization in LAC has been supported by the WBG. While not exhaustive, these examples are representative of the different strategies and instruments used by governments at the central and subnational levels to help leverage private sector participation in infrastructure. The WBG stands ready to continue to assist the region in that endeavor with financial support, as well as knowledge and convening services.

Neuroepidemiology of transverse myelitis and its etiologies in Latin America: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Summary Background The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted care for non-communicable diseases globally. This study synthesizes evidence on disruptions to primary care, focusing on hypertension and diabetes care and mitigation approaches taken during the pandemic in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Methods We conducted a scoping review, searching nine electronic databases for studies from January 2020 to December 2022 on COVID-19-related primary care disruptions and interventions, including studies on hospital-based interventions given their relevance to the pandemic response in LAC. We adapted the Primary Health Care Performance Initiative framework to develop our search strategy and synthesize data. For studies reporting interventions, we included studies conducted outside of LAC. Findings Of 33,510 references screened, 388 studies were included (259 reported disruptions in LAC, 61 interventions in LAC, 63 interventions outside LAC, and five interventions from countries within and outside LAC), with three-quarters presenting data from Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, and Peru; few studies focused on rural areas. Additionally, the few studies that adequately quantified care disruptions reported a reduction in hypertension and diabetes control during the pandemic (e.g., hypertension control rate decreased from 68% to 55% in Mexico). Frequently reported causes of disruption included burnout and mental health challenges among healthcare workers (with disproportionate effects by type of worker), reduced medication supplies, and reduced frequency of clinic visits by patients (e.g., due to financial constraints). The most reported interventions included remote care strategies (e.g., smartphone applications, virtual meeting platforms) and mental health programs for healthcare workers. Remote care strategies were deemed feasible for care delivery, triaging, and clinical support for non-physicians. Patients were generally satisfied with telemedicine, whereas providers had mixed perceptions. Robust evidence on the effectiveness of remote care strategies for diabetes and hypertension care was unavailable in LAC. Interpretation Hypertension and diabetes control appeared to worsen in LAC during the pandemic. Major reported causes of care disruptions were workforce issues, reduced medication supply, and changes in patient perceptions of seeking and receiving primary healthcare. Remote care strategies were feasible for various purposes and were well received by patients. However, the lack of data on intervention effectiveness underscores the importance of strengthening research capacity to generate robust evidence during future pandemics. Developing resilient healthcare systems able to provide care for hypertension and diabetes during future pandemics will depend on investment in the healthcare workforce, medical supply chain, health data and research infrastructure, and technology readiness.

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic disrupted care for non-communicable diseases globally. This study synthesizes evidence on disruptions to primary care, focusing on hypertension and diabetes care and mitigation approaches taken during the pandemic in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC).MethodsWe conducted a scoping review, searching nine electronic databases for studies from January 2020 to December 2022 on COVID-19-related primary care disruptions and interventions, including studies on hospital-based interventions given their relevance to the pandemic response in LAC. We adapted the Primary Health Care Performance Initiative framework to develop our search strategy and synthesize data. For studies reporting interventions, we included studies conducted outside of LAC.ResultsOf 33,510 references screened, 388 studies were included (259 reported disruptions in LAC, 61 interventions in LAC, 63 interventions outside LAC, and five interventions from countries within and outside LAC), with three-quarters presenting data from Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, and Peru; few studies focused on rural areas. Additionally, the few studies that adequately quantified care disruptions reported a reduction in hypertension and diabetes control during the pandemic (e.g., hypertension control rate decreased from 68 to 55% in Mexico). Frequently reported causes of disruption included burnout and mental health challenges among healthcare workers (with disproportionate effects by type of worker), reduced medication supplies, and reduced frequency of clinic visits by patients (e.g., due to financial constraints). The most reported interventions included remote care strategies (e.g., smartphone applications, virtual meeting platforms) and mental health programs for healthcare workers. Remote care strategies were deemed feasible for care delivery, triaging, and clinical support for non-physicians. Patients were generally satisfied with telemedicine, whereas providers had mixed perceptions. Robust evidence on the effectiveness of remote care strategies for diabetes and hypertension care was unavailable in LAC.ConclusionHypertension and diabetes control appeared to worsen in LAC during the pandemic. Major reported causes of care disruptions were workforce issues, reduced medication supply, and changes in patient perceptions of seeking and receiving primary healthcare. Remote care strategies were feasible for various purposes and were well received by patients. However, the lack of data on intervention effectiveness underscores the importance of strengthening research capacity to generate robust evidence during future pandemics. Developing resilient healthcare systems able to provide care for hypertension and diabetes during future pandemics will depend on investment in the healthcare workforce, medical supply chain, health data and research infrastructure, and technology readiness.

Hitting Stride: The 2nd Americas Alternative Finance Industry Report

<sec><st>Objective</st> Cancer is the second-leading cause of death in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Exposure to workplace carcinogens is an important factor, yet there are sparse data about the numbers and types of LAC workers exposed. This project aimed to build capacity for CARcinogen EXposure (CAREX) programs in LAC. </sec> <sec><st>Methods</st> The CAREX method, originally developed in the European Union for estimating exposure to occupational carcinogens, has been used and modified in some Central American countries and Canada. Generally, the approach combines labour force data with estimates of the proportions of workers exposed to priority carcinogens in each country. A two-day workshop involving over 20 participants from Canada and 12 LAC countries was held to discuss methodological approaches, issues unique to LAC, and research opportunities. Certain individual countries subsequently developed CAREX programs by holding consultations to identify priority carcinogens and adapting proportion of exposure values from existing CAREX programs. </sec> <sec><st>Results</st> CAREX programs in LAC have been established in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, Guyana, Colombia, Peru, and Chile. Central American CAREX projects included exposure estimates by sex for approximately 30–35 carcinogens that incorporated levels of uncertainty. Both informal and formal workers were covered in exposure estimates, although estimates for these populations are challenging in most countries. In general, agents with the greatest prevalence of exposure in all industries included solar radiation, environmental tobacco smoke, crystalline silica, and pesticides. In Peru, exposure estimates were based on data from LAC and Europe with the involvement of experts from 43 institutions. Preliminary results from Chile have also been produced using a slight variation of this approach. </sec> <sec><st>Conclusions</st> This project demonstrates that the CAREX methodology can be readily adapted to different countries, economies, and priority carcinogens. CAREX exposure estimates are integral for informing primary prevention activities and improving estimates of the global occupational cancer burden. </sec>

Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is one of the most urbanized and biologically diverse regions in the world but is often characterized by weak environmental governance and socioeconomic inequalities. Given large expanses of intact biomes, a long history of pre-Colombian civilizations, and recent urbanization trends, the urban ecosystem services (UES) concept has the potential to address issues of well-being for its citizens. We review relevant regional and global literature and use expert-based knowledge to identify the state of the art of the UES concept as applicable to green spaces in LAC and elucidate three overarching guidelines for management and future research needs: 1. LAC cities can be socio-ecologically unique; 2. Drivers of UES in LAC can be different than in other regions; and 3. Context and demand need to be accounted for when valuing UES. Overall, we show that research on UES is mostly from the global north and rarely accounts for the diverse and complex socio-political and ecological drivers of LAC’s urbanization processes. We find that, as in other regions, the biophysical context and land use policies play a major role on UES provision. However, socioeconomic inequalities and weak governance are key drivers in UES supply and demand in LAC. Context-specific information on how to promote, educate, and apply UES is particularly important, not only in LAC, but in other regions where inequities, rapid urbanization, and climate change effects are stressing socio-political and ecological systems and their adaptive capacities. Standardized approaches from developed countries should be used to complement - not substitute – LAC context specific approaches for studying and applying UES. We suggest that improved research funding and local governance can also provide critical strategies, information and the means for more effective management, planning, and equitable provision of UES.

IntroductionIn Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) the response to substance use has primarily been abstinence-based, acute-care-oriented treatments. While harm reduction services (HRS) and interventions have expanded in LAC over the last decade, the research evidence on such programs has been sparse and disjointed.ObjectiveThis scoping review will map peer-reviewed literature on HRS and interventions in LAC, and synthesize gaps and opportunities for policy, practice, and research.Inclusion criteriaStudies conducted in LAC. The HRS that will be included in the search are opioid agonist therapy, syringe services programs, drug consumption facilities, safer consumption kits, managed alcohol programs, and drug-checking services. The scoping review will consider peer-reviewed original research, including qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods designs. We will exclude studies addressing harms associated with nicotine or tobacco use. We included original research written in English, Spanish, Portuguese, or French published between January 2013 and December 2024.MethodsWe will conduct literature searches in English (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science), Spanish, Portuguese (SciELO and BIREME), and French (BIREME). Two reviewers will independently screen the literature. Extraction of characteristics of the studies using a template in Covidence. Data on the HRS and interventions studied and implemented in LAC will be summarized and presented in tables, graphs, and a narrative summary. We will use a narrative synthesis approach to summarize implications for policy, research, and practice identified in the literature. The review was registered in Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/qya7c/),DiscussionThe proposed scoping review will provide valuable information regarding the current state of HRS and interventions for PWUD in LAC. This in return can help guide future research for evaluating services that are already being implemented or unveil services needed in the region. To our knowledge, this is the first scoping review to map HRS in LAC using a systematic approach. Furthermore, among the strengths of this review are: the broad number of services, countries, and time, as well as the consultation with experts and knowledge users.

유럽연합(EU)과 라틴아메리카 및 카리브지역(LAC)은 1999년 전략적 동반자 관계를 체결한 이래 오늘날까지 제도화된 협력을 추진해오고 있다. EU와 LAC는 전략적 동반자관계 수립 이후 매 2년 혹은 3년마다 정상회담을 이어 오고 있으며, 2010년에는 전략적 동반자관계의 일환으로 EU-LAC Foundation을 설립하기로 결정하는 등 양 지역의 협력관계는 공고화되고 있다. 이처럼 EU와 LAC는 상생적인 공동번영과 다양한 지역·글로벌 이슈에 대응하기 위한 협력 기제를 성공적으로 구축해오고 있음에도 불구하고, EU의 대외관계에 대한 선행연구는 주요 국가(미국, 중국 등) 혹은 지역과의 협력에 주로 천착해 있으며, EU-라틴아메리카 관계에 대한 연구를 살펴보더라도 특정 협력 이슈에 초점을 맞춘 연구가 대부분이다. 본 연구는 이러한 선행연구와의 차별성을 기하기 위해, 전략적 동반자관계의 맥락에서 EU와 LAC 간의 관계를 고찰하고, 이를 둘러싼 주요 동향과 이슈 및 담론을 도출하는 것을 목적으로 하였다. 이를 위해 2012-2021년 사이 EU-LAC Foundation에서 발간된 229개의 문서를 텍스트마이닝 기법을 사용하여 분석하였다. 구체적으로 키워드분석, 의미연결망 분석 및 구조적 등위 분석을 실시하였으며, 이를 통해 EU와 LAC 협력 아젠다가 기존의 전통적인 정치·경제(통상 및 무역) 분야를 넘어서 문화, 사회 이슈, 교육 및 지속가능한 발전을 위시한 환경 이슈까지 확장되고 있음을 발견하였다.The European Union (EU) and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) have been pursuing institutionalized cooperation since the establishment of strategic bi-regional partnership in 1999. Subsequently, the EU and the LAC have held summits every two or three years. Cooperation between the two regions has been strengthening and further consolidated with the decision to create the EU–LAC Foundation as part of the strategic partnership in 2010. Although the EU and the LAC have successfully established a cooperative framework for co-prosperity and various regional and global issues, the existing literature on the EU’s external relations is mainly on its cooperation with major global players (such as the US and China), and most of the previous studies on EU–Latin American relations focus on specific cooperative issues. In this regard, the present study aimed to identify the relations between the EU and the LAC in the context of strategic partnerships and to derive the relevant key trends, issues, and discourses. The research analyzed 229 documents published by the EU–LAC Foundation between 2012 and 2021 employing the text-mining approach. Specifically, the study conducted keyword, semantic network, and CONCOR analyses. The results demonstrated that the EU and LAC’s cooperation agenda are expanding beyond the traditional political and economic fields to culture, social issues, education, and sustainable development, such as environmental issues.