Critical political economy of the public infrastructure crisis in Lebanon

In this interview, Karim Eid-Sabbagh and Ulrich Ufer discuss how the case of the public infrastructure crisis in Lebanon highlights the importance of including analytical dimensions of critical political economy and global financial dynamics in technology assessment alongside a technology-society-governance perspective – in particular when focusing on the Global South. The Lebanese crisis has built up through long-term structural problems that include the legacies of colonialism, the country’s peripheral position in global capital relations, elite nepotism, sectarian strife, and the state’s dependency on international donor funding to build and maintain public infrastructure. These have coincided with short-term disintegration and disaster events over the past two years: mass migration, countrywide anti-government protests in fall 2019, the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020, the destruction of large parts of the country’s capital by the devastating explosion in the port of Beirut in August 2020, and the spiraling devaluation of the Lebanese currency.

Bibliometric Analysis and Visualization Harm Reduction in Indonesia Indexed in Scopus

Background: Harm Reduction is a program to reduce the harm of narcotics for injecting drug users. The Harm Reduction (HR) program in Indonesia was initiated in 1999 with assistance and financial support from international donor agencies that lead to policy or program implementation. 9 components of Harm Reduction are still being implemented in Indonesia. The current study was conducted to analyze the bibliometric characteristics and trends of articles on Harm Reduction in Indonesia. Methods: This study uses VOSviewer affiliate analysis to visualize and analyze trends in the form of bibliometric maps. VOSviewer can also create publication maps, country maps, or journal maps based on shared citation networks or create keyword maps based on their networks. All data is taken from the Scopus database.Results: Articles from 1999 to 2021 in 41 journals indexed by Scopus with a total of 67 documents. Research on Harm Reduction in Indonesia in the last five years has only one significant increase, namely in 2019 with 10 article documents. This shows that international publications of research on Harm Reduction in Indonesia are not yet developed and there are not many interested people. Conclusions: There are still not many researches on Harm Reduction in Indonesia, besides that the results show that research sources on Harm Reduction in Indonesia are still widely available and accessible for further research in the future.

Corruption, Elites, and Power: An Overview of International Policy Efforts to Improve the Quality of Government

In 1996, the then president of the World Bank James Wolfenson stressed the malign effects of corruption on development, putting anticorruption on his institution’s agenda. Since then, the Bank and many other development institutions have focused on corruption and quality of government. This chapter reviews the different approaches taken to improve the quality of governments while fighting corruption: state structural reform, simplification and reduction of administrative discretion, transparency and accountability initiatives, international agreements and conventions, and specialized anticorruption bodies. This chapter reviews the effectiveness of these approaches and concludes that while there have been some successes, there is relatively little evidence of major improvement in aggregate levels of corruption. The reason for this lies in the political nature of corruption and the powerful incentives of elites to maintain the status quo. The limited impact of anticorruption efforts reflects the fact that the international donor community, often operating in an uncoordinated way, usually does not have the political leverage to shift these incentives.

P–559 Proof of principle for Extended Carrier Screening (ECS) in medically assisted reproduction: First 33 cases of genetic matching for donors and recipients

Study question Does implementation of ECS to reduce reproductive risk when using a donor with a known carrier status serves as a wider model for ART patients. Summary answer ECS should be routinely offered to ART patients using their own or donor gametes to reduce risk of having a child with a recessive condition. What is known already Responsible implementation of ECS in assisted reproduction is required as commercial offerings increase and become more accessible; ESHRE ethical guidelines are shortly to be published after consideration of stakeholder reviews. Increasingly ECS is included in donor screening, rejecting potential donors for a known carrier status will reduce donor gamete availability. Clinics should consider potential match yield in carrier panels to develop tools and specialist support to deliver and guide patients to help make informed decisions for ECS. Study design, size, duration Retrospective evaluation of ECS results for the first 33 patients who undertook counter screening in the clinic setting from April 2020 to December 2020 before using a donor with known carrier status. The findings would serve as proof of concept for wider application. Participants/materials, setting, methods Patients had opted to undertake ECS after discussion of risk estimates, family history review and personal options.Testing was commissioned between two ECS providers for international donor banks using panels of 283+ genes. Incidence of carrier match, the number of variants reported, and their clinical significance were reviewed. Main results and the role of chance: Of the 33 co-carrier tests, one carrier match for a patient and potential donor was identified. 41%, 26%, 9% and 3% of patients were carriers of 1, 2, 3 and 4 pathogenic variants respectively in 30 different genes. In 21% of patients, no pathogenic variants were reported. Of the variants identified as incidental findings, six were actionable and eligible for cascade screening to the wider family. This included Cystic Fibrosis, Sickle cell and Thalassemia. A variant for Familial hypercholesterolemia had preventative value. An incidental finding of a fragile X pre-mutation allowed for PGT-M as part of planned treatment Limitations, reasons for caution Findings from this first cohort of 33 tests may not represent the general population, follow up evaluation as participant numbers increase is required. Wider implications of the findings: Implementation of guidelines is required to ensure consistency of methodology and availability of transparent information for ECS to ART patients. Incidental findings may be of value to the patient and wider family. Trial registration number Not applicable

Interventions to Address Discrimination against LGBTQi Persons

This annotated bibliography synthesises evidence on interventions to limit discrimination and abuse against people who are LGBTQi. In general, development agencies have strong commitments to LGBTQi rights in their strategy and policy documents. However, they avoid addressing LGBTQi rights directly through programming. Historically, international donor support for LGBTQi rights has been channelled through health programmes (especially those related to sexual health or HIV/AIDS) and democracy and governance support programmes. Recently, there is a trend towards integrating LGBTQi rights across a broader set of development programmes under the auspices of “leave no one behind”. The literature notes some barriers that undermine the extent to which international development interventions or programmes can address discrimination against LGBTQi persons. One of the barriers includes LGBTQi rights are still not viewed as a development priority but as a controversy in some settings, leading embassies to be hesitant to engage with them. Limited data and understanding of the various issues that are categorised as LGBTQi curtail the extent to which these issues can be integrated with other development programmes. The literature also observes that prejudice among staff at all levels in development agencies undermines their willingness to engage with LGBTQi rights and issues.

International Donor Agencies' Guidelines for Responding to Children in Emergencies

The document review discusses selected guidelines and recommendations that international actors have formulated as a result of experience providing relief for young children in emergencies. Its purpose is to help develop response plans for future emergencies. The failure to respond to and protect children from escalating threats in emergencies has many consequences including a loss of educational opportunity and a long-term social cost. The prevent these tragedies children's core needs need to be met in safe, protected and structured settings, with support provided for caregivers. The document review is followed by a discussion of the guidelines and recommendations for the future development of response guidelines.

International Donor Agencies' Guidelines for Responding to Children in Emergencies

The document review discusses selected guidelines and recommendations that international actors have formulated as a result of experience providing relief for young children in emergencies. Its purpose is to help develop response plans for future emergencies. The failure to respond to and protect children from escalating threats in emergencies has many consequences including a loss of educational opportunity and a long-term social cost. The prevent these tragedies children's core needs need to be met in safe, protected and structured settings, with support provided for caregivers. The document review is followed by a discussion of the guidelines and recommendations for the future development of response guidelines.

Feasibility and Outcome of Haploidentical Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant with Post-Transplantation Cyclophosphamide in High-Risk Malignancies in Children

The use of haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation with post-transplant cyclophosphamide (Haplo-PTCy) is increasing in adults, but also in children; this procedure is a good alternative for transplanting pediatric patients lacking a matched family donor; indeed, this is very relevant in regions with economic constraints or with a population which is not well represented in the international donor registries which make access to unrelated cord blood units or bone marrow donors difficult.

Beyond an ‘ideal type’

This case of activists, democratic leaders and aid workers in Myanmar – and the ways in which they communicate about democracy – reveals lessons that can be applied more broadly to endeavours to understand democracy promotion around the world. This chapter addresses both the democracy-promotion literature and also the practical implications for practitioners working on governance or democracy programs in international donor agencies or NGOs.

Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room (NCSSR) and Electioneering Process in Nigeria (2015–2019)

Civil society organizations have played a pivotal role in democratization process in Nigeria since the advent of the Fourth Republic. They have greatly helped in the success of the 2015 and 2019 General Elections through pre-election, during election, and in post-election monitoring and advocacy. This article, therefore, examined the role of the Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room (NCSSR) in improving the election in Nigeria during the 2015 and 2019 General Elections. While many civil societies flourished recently in Nigeria, their role toward democratization and facilitating credible election remain insignificant until in the 2015 and 2019 General Elections where their activities helped immensely the process of a credible election. A Civil Society as the Third Tier of Government framework was adopted as a theoretical explanation of the context of the work. The research used a qualitative case study method of data collection where informants consisting of members of NCSSR, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and academicians were selected for the interview and Focus Group Discussion. The total number selected was 16 from the three identified categories. The research discovered that the NCSSR aided the process and fairness of the 2015 and 2019 General Elections through proper monitoring, civic voter education, active collaboration with electoral body (INEC), and collaboration with international donor agencies through what they called “Civil Society Situation Room” which consist of more than 60 registered civil societies. The research recommends that civil societies should be empowered with constitutional backing and independent funding to enable them carry out their responsibilities adequately. Also, the article recommends that the electoral body (INEC) should liaise more and cooperate with civil societies to enable them conduct good and credible elections in future.