World News

Coronavirus thrives in smoggy Mexico City | Africa’s access to COVID-19 cures, and research priorities

Posted by: The Conversation Global

Date: Monday, 06 July 2020

 

The coronavirus is hitting Mexico hard, particularly Mexico City. Because of the notoriously bad air quality in Mexico’s arid and polluted capital, residents have high rates of respiratory and cardiovascular illness, making them vulnerable to severe COVID-19. But Mexico City wasn’t always an ecological and health disaster. In the Aztec era, it was a “shining city on a lake, crisscrossed by engineering marvels like causeways and removable bridges, and full of splendid palaces,” writes the University of Memphis scholar Elena Delavega.

Researchers around the world are working hard to understand SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Thousands of treatment trials and dozens of vaccine development studies have been initiated. This includes a vaccine study in South Africa. But does this mean people in developing countries will get fair and equal access to any vaccine or treatment that is found one day? Hailay Abrha Gesesew explains why he is not upbeat about the prospect. Another development is that the World Health Organisation has laid out a “roadmap” of research priorities. Moses Alobo lays out which of these priorities African scientists have highlighted as being especially important.

Catesby Holmes

Religion Editor | International Editor

Situated on a plateau and surrounded by mountains, Mexico City is a bowl that traps smog and dust. AP Photo/Marco Ugarte

Mexico City buried its rivers to prevent disease and unwittingly created a dry, polluted city where COVID-19 now thrives

Elena Delavega, University of Memphis

The Aztecs had a shining city on a lake, with canals, causeways and aqueducts – until the Spanish came. Mexico City is still suffering the consequences of their bad public health decisions.

Africa waited for solutions to past health crises: will it be different for COVID-19?

Hailay Gesesew, Flinders University

History shows that treatments and vaccines have been accessible to African countries only after the loss of millions of lives and typically years - sometimes decades - after developed nations.

Africa’s scientists set out their COVID-19 research priorities

Moses Alobo, African Academy of Sciences

Some of the priorities were drawn from the World Health Organisation's Roadmap; others were expressed by researchers in and from Africa as being important to the continent's many contexts.

Politics + Society

American slavery: Separating fact from myth

Daina Ramey Berry, University of Texas at Austin

On Juneteenth, the day that commemorates the ending of slavery in the US, a historian dispels myths about the 'peculiar institution' of slavery.

The unique harm of sexual abuse in the black community

Jennifer M. Gómez, Wayne State University

Sexual abuse has unique effects on people who are members of the same minority group, research suggests. An expert who has studied the issue in detail explains the added issue of cultural betrayal.

Environment + Energy

Combating climate change – why investors should keep their shares in fossil fuel companies

Adrian R. Bell, University of Reading; Chris Brooks, University of Reading

Investors who care about the environment are better off holding shares in and exercising their influence over fossil fuel companies.

Climate change: 40°C summer temperatures could be common in UK by 2100

Lisa Baldini, Teesside University

A new study lays bare the average summer heat people in the UK can expect by century's end.

COVID-19

The WHO’s risky communication strategy created confusion around COVID-19

Gabriel Blouin-Genest, Université de Sherbrooke ; Anna Bogic, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa; Éric Champagne, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa; Natalia Torres Orozco, Université de Sherbrooke ; Nathalie Burlone, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa

The World Health Organization’s handling of communication around COVID-19 included ambiguous messaging that created confusion.

Coronavirus: it is morally indefensible for a nation to keep life-saving drugs for itself

Graham Dutfield, University of Leeds

Treatment nationalism is a threat to us all.

En Français

Un jacuzzi pour recréer Jupiter en laboratoire

Daphné Lemasquerier, Aix-Marseille Université (AMU); Benjamin Favier, Aix-Marseille Université (AMU); Michael Le Bars, IMéRA

À l’aide de jacuzzi et autres tapis roulants, des chercheurs reproduisent en laboratoire les phénomènes complexes de l’atmosphère de Jupiter pour comprendre ce qu’on n’arrive pas à mesurer dans l’espace.

À Perpignan, le RN a aussi conquis la bourgeoisie

Nicolas Lebourg, Université de Montpellier

Le vote RN ne s’est pas construit dans les quartiers populaires mais autour d’eux, avec des sommets dans des zones aisées.

En español

¿Es natural que los humanos comamos carne?

Paul Palmqvist Barrena, Universidad de Málaga

Hay argumentos biológicos para afirmar que una dieta exclusivamente vegana no solo resulta antinatural en nuestra especie, sino que hay razones fisiológicas de peso que la desaconsejan.

Los riesgos de la exploración espacial

David Barrado Navascués, Centro de Astrobiología (INTA-CSIC)

La exploración espacial es una de las grandes epopeyas de la Humanidad. En cualquier caso, el impacto económico por pérdida de satélites y por reentradas incontroladas está siempre presente.

 
 
 
 
 
 

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