Category: Covid-19

  • An Iranian Woman receives a dose of the China's Sinopharm new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine in the Iranmall shopping complex in northwest of Tehran, Iran on May 17, 2021. (Photo by Sobhan Farajvan/Pacific Press/Sipa USA) Credit: Sipa USA/Alamy Live News

    Capitalising on Covid: China’s health diplomacy in the Middle East

    In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, China’s Belt and Road Initiative has enabled the rising superpower to expand its sphere of influence in the Middle East. Much analysis of the initiative, which has seen China invest in more than 70 countries across Asia, Europe and the Middle East, is focused on infrastructure, including new […]
    Evan Freidin/
    May 22, 2024
  • COVID-19 and Female Labour Force Participation in Jordan

    COVID-19 has exacerbated the challenges of female labour participation in Jordan. Female social involvement has significantly decreased by virtue of caring for their children and other familial responsibilities – especially since kindergartens were one of the first common areas to be closed during quarantine. Recent research has concluded that there is a noticeable low rate […]
    Akram Al Deek/
    May 22, 2024
  • Covid-19 and Egypt’s Informal Economy

    For many Egyptians and policymakers alike, Egypt’s informal sector represents both a blessing and a curse. Through ease of entry, it provides employment for those shut out of the formal sector, but it is also characterised by poor working conditions and weak worker protections. The Egyptian government has shown great ambivalence towards the sector, sometimes trying […]
    Alia El Mahdi/
    May 22, 2024
  • COVID-19 and Iraq’s Fractured Healthcare System

    In July of this year, a fire tore through the COVID-19 isolation ward of Iraq’s al-Hussein Teaching Hospital in the city of Nasiriyah. At least 64 people were killed and dozens more injured, with the cause of the accident still disputed. Initial police reports suggest that the trigger was the explosion of an oxygen tank, […]
    Afeeya Akhand/
    May 22, 2024