COVID-19 has created a ramifying public health, economic, and political crisis throughout many countries in the world. While globally the pandemic is at different stages and far from under control in some countries, now is the time for public health researchers and political scientists to start understanding how and why governments responded the way they have, explore how effective these responses appear to be, and what lessons we can draw about effective public health policymaking in preparation of the next wave of COVID-19 or the next infectious disease pandemic. We argue that there will be no way to understand the different responses to COVID-19 and their effects without understanding policy and politics. We propose four key focuses to understand the reasons for COVID-19 responses: social policies to crisis management as well as recovery, regime type (democracy or autocracy), formal political institutions (federalism, presidentialism), and state capacity (control over health care systems and public administration). A research agenda to address the COVID-19 pandemic that takes politics as a serious focus can enable the development of more realistic, sustainable interventions in policies and shape our broader understanding of the politics of public health.

Stigma associated with HIV and risk behaviors is known to be a barrier to health care access for many populations. Less is known about female sex workers (FSW) in Russia, a population that is especially vulnerable to HIV-infection, and yet hard-to-reach for service providers. We administered a questionnaire to 139 FSW to better understand how stigma and discrimination influence HIV service utilization. Logistic regression analysis indicated that HIV-related stigma is negatively associated with uptake of HIV testing, while sex work-related stigma is positively associated with HIV testing. HIV-positive FSW are more likely than HIV-negative FSW to experience discrimination in health care settings. While decreasing societal stigma should be a long-term goal, programs that foster inclusion of marginalized populations in Russian health care settings are urgently needed.

Objectives: An effective vaccine to SARS-CoV-2 cannot be successfully deployed if a significant number of people worldwide are unwilling to accept it. We investigated the relationship between trust in scientists and medical professionals and perceptions of vaccine safety and effectiveness. We also build on past studies by exploring the relationship between confidence in global health organizations and vaccine hesitancy.Methods: We conducted an online survey in seventeen countries/territories across five world regions between May -June 2020. We assessed the relationship between COVID19 vaccine hesitancy, confidence in public health organizations, and trust in key experts and leaders.Results: Our findings strongly suggest that confidence in the World Health Organization combined with trust in domestic scientists and healthcare professionals is a strong driver of vaccine acceptance across multiple countries/territories.Conclusion: We find that hesitancy is widespread, and uptake would be insufficient to achieve herd immunity. There is widespread confidence in how public health organizations have responded to the current pandemic and this is related to vaccine acceptance. Our results also highlight the important role of trust in health care providers and scientists in reducing COVID19 vaccine hesitancy.

Female sex workers in Russia have been particularly vulnerable to recent social, political, and economic changes. In this article, we describe the facilitators and barriers for sex workers receiving health care services in St. Petersburg, Russia. We conducted observations at medical institutions and nongovernmental organizations and in-depth interviews with 29 female sex workers. We identified the following barriers: poverty, not having documents, lack of anonymity in testing, and the official registration system. We identified the following facilitators: intervention by family members, social connections within the health care system, and referral services from a nongovernmental organization. Our findings indicate a need for reassessing policies and designing programs that better facilitate the use of health care services for the most vulnerable populations. This should include the expansion of support systems and outreach services designed to help female sex workers navigate the health care system.

Engaging men is a critical component in efforts to reduce intimate partner violence (IPV). Little is known regarding men's perspectives of approaches that challenge inequitable gender norms, particularly in settings impacted by armed conflict. This article describes men's experiences with a women's empowerment program and highlights men's perceptions of gender norms, poverty and armed conflict, as they relate to achieving programmatic goals. Data are from 32 Ivorian men who participated in indepth interviews in 2012. Interviews were undertaken as part of an intervention that combined gender dialogue groups for both women and their male partners with women's only village savings and loans programs to reduce IPV against women. Findings suggested that in the context of armed conflict, traditional gender norms and economic stressors experienced by men challenged fulfillment of gender roles and threatened men's sense of masculinity. Men who participated in gender dialogue groups discussed their acceptance of programming and identified improvements in their relationships with their female partners. These men further discussed increased financial planning along with their partners, and attributed such increases to the intervention. Addressing men's perceptions of masculinity, poverty and armed conflict may be key components to reduce men's violence against women in conflict-affected settings.

Standard measures may underestimate nondisclosure. Counseling and interventions that promote disclosure should include strategies for disclosure in ongoing relationships, assistance in notifying past partners, and a focus on partnership characteristics and dynamics.

COVID-19 is the most significant global crisis of any of our lifetimes. The numbers have been stupefying, whether of infection and mortality, the scale of public health measures, or the economic consequences of shutdown. Coronavirus Politics identifies key threads in the global comparative discussion that continue to shed light on COVID-19 and shape debates about what it means for scholarship in health and comparative politics. Editors Scott L. Greer, Elizabeth J. King, Elize Massard da Fonseca, and André Peralta-Santos bring together over 30 authors versed in politics and the health issues in order to understand the health policy decisions, the public health interventions, the social policy decisions, their interactions, and the reasons. The book’s coverage is global, with a wide range of key and exemplary countries, and contains a mixture of comparative, thematic, and templated country studies. All go beyond reporting and monitoring to develop explanations that draw on the authors' expertise while engaging in structured conversations across the book.

Female sex workers are particularly susceptible to HIV infection in Russia. However, a dearth of information exists on their utilization of HIV services. A mixed-methods, cross-sectional study was conducted to examine motivators and barriers to HIV testing among street-based sex workers in St. Petersburg, Russia. The Health Belief Model was the theoretical framework for the study. Twenty-nine sex workers participated in in-depth interviews, and 139 sex workers completed interviewer-administered surveys between February and September 2009. Barriers to getting an HIV test were fear of learning the results, worrying that other people would think they were sick, and the distance needed to travel to obtain services. Motivators for getting tested were protecting others from infection, wanting to know one’s status and getting treatment if diagnosed. Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that knowing people living with HIV [aOR=6.75, 95% CI (1.11, 41.10)] and length of time since start of injection drug use [aOR=0.30, 95% CI (0.09, 0.97)] are significantly associated with recently getting tested. These results are important to consider when developing public health interventions to help female sex workers in Russia learn their HIV status and get linked to care and treatment services if needed.