Our thoughts this week are with the civilians trapped in the escalating war between Israel and Hamas, and with the local health workers and international aid groups that will struggle to meet those civilians needs before and after this terrible conflict.
Our first article is about another struggle to provide health care in a post-conflict setting—Afghanistan. The authors, scholars from Princeton University's School of Public and International Affairs, examine the Taliban's efforts to find long-term solutions now that the International Committee of the Red Cross has announced it can no longer afford to fund and manage hospitals in the country.
Next, David P. Fidler hears echoes of the strategies used in the U.S. war on terrorism in some Republican presidential candidates' and lawmakers' proposals to stop fentanyl smuggling in Mexico and ensure U.S. funds are not indirectly increasing access to safe abortions. Those proposals, Fidler argues, could harm U.S. legitimacy and be counterproductive in both domestic and international contexts.
Mexico is mired in a perpetual migrant crisis and its health-care system cannot satisfy the health needs of so many people. Approximately 225,000 migrants are currently stranded in Mexico, hailing from all over the world, including Central America, the Caribbean, South Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. Our authors, researchers from Partners In Health, summarize the troubling findings from their survey of those migrants' unmet health needs.
We close out the week by highlighting Project ECHO, a virtual health-care training initiative from the World Health Organization. Established in 2003 to improve hepatitis C care in remote and under-resourced communities, the authors argue the platform could help prepare for and respond to global health emergencies generally.
As always, thank you for reading.—Thomas J. Bollyky, Editor
