MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale
MacMillan Center

Working together to fight COVID-19 around the world

Over recent months, the news about COVID-19 has been mostly positive in the U.S. The number of Americans who have gotten vaccinated continues to rise and as a result, the number of COVID cases, as well as the number of deaths, have been vastly reduced. Unfortunately, that is not the case in many other countries around the world. The disease has spread to every continent and the case numbers continue to rise and remains an urgent threat across much of Latin America and in parts of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

During the past 14 months, the MacMillan Center’s Councils and Programs have been working on a number of fronts to address a variety of COVID issues through research and special events. The following list highlights some of those efforts:

  • On April 10, 2020, the South Asian Studies Council hosted a virtual panel on harnessing research for “COVID-19 Response in Pakistan.”  Watch Video
  • On May 4, 2020, the Contemporary Iran Forum hosted a discussion on the environmental aspects of the COVID-19 crisis. Watch Video
  • On May 5, 2020, a webinar panel featuring MacMillan Center and Yale Law School faculty and affiliates was held on “Democracy & Rise of Authoritarianism in COVID-19 World.” It focused on the anti-democratic processes that are happening in some countries due to the COVID-19 virus—examples include Hungary, China, Asia, Iran, Latin America, North Africa, and Brazil. Watch Video
  • In July 2020, the MacMillan Center launched The Health of the Body Politic clearinghouse to archive and make more broadly accessible the research and analysis done by its affiliated faculty, students and staff, as well as other Yale University scholars that is focused on the COVID-19 pandemic and the racial justice movement.
  • On September 23, 2020, the Council on Latin American & Iberian Studies and the Poynter Fellowship in Journalism presented “Coronavirus & Gender: The Other Pandemic in Chile,” a talk by Paula Escobar Chavarría, a Chilean journalist. Watch Video
  • February 5, 2021, Research conducted by Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak, a professor of economics and director of the Yale Research Initiative on Innovation and Scale, and an international group of colleagues, shows how COVID-19 has caused a steep decline in living standards. Published in Science Advances, the study features quantitative evidence from nine developing countries, and was also showcased in Scientific American.
  • On February 22, 2021, the Hellenic Studies Program, the Program on Refugees, Forced Displacement, and Humanitarian Responses, and the Council on Middle East Studies sponsored a discussion titled “Population Movements Under Lockdown: Refugees & Migrants in Greece & Lebanon.” It explored the refugee and migrant experience during the COVID-19 year in Greece and Lebanon. Watch Video
  • In April 2021, the National Bureau of Economic Research published a study titled “Normalizing Community Mask-Wearing: A Cluster Randomized Trial in Bangladesh” that was conducted by a team of researchers, including Mushfiq Mobarak. They tested multiple methods for encouraging use of masks in Bangladesh and identified a group of simple interventions that tripled usage. The approach could help other countries normalize mask-wearing, including neighboring India, where COVID-19 infections are out of control. Read Article
  • On May 6, 2021, a webinar title “Yale and Brazil: Supporting Future Science Research” featured a discussion with four leaders from biomedical and public health research institutions in Brazil and in the United States. It focused on how these disciplines have been and will be transformed in the future due to COVID-19. Read Article
  • On May 20, 2021, the Council on Middle East Studies hosted a panel discussion on “COVID-19 in Humanitarian Settings: Syria, Somalia, Yemen and Morocco.” Panelist with expertise working in these countries shared their experiences ranging from surveillance, testing, treatment, and vaccination for COVID-19. They also discussed how COVID-19 has impacted other health issues in these settings. Watch Video

The MacMillan Center also cosponsored a lecture series with the Yale Global Health Initiative that featured experts on COVID issues:

  • COVID-19 Update with Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director, NIAID   Watch Video
  • Child Health and Wellbeing During and Beyond a Pandemic: Henrietta Fore, Executive Director, UNICEF   Watch Video
  • Higher Education in a Post-COVID World: A Panel Discussion with University Presidents   Watch Video

To learn more about how you can help fight COVID-19, please visit the World Health Organization, United Nations or UNICEF sites.