Iran, sanctions, and the COVID-19 crisis

Abstract

With an over 80 million population, Iran is the second-largest country of the Middle East. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread over all 31 provinces of Iran, leading to the most cases and death among the Eastern Mediterranean countries. At the same time, Iran is under the United States political and economic sanctions that compromised Iran's health system. Although medicines and basic medical equipment exempted from the economic sanctions, direct and indirect effects of sanctions have restricted Iran's banking system, and consequently has led to a wide range of limitation on trade, manufacturing sector, insurance and ventures. All these circumstances have meant that Iran is restricted to provide the essential basic medical equipment for diagnosis, treatment and prevention of the COVID-19. Although sanctions are not the sole reason for this high rate of mortality and morbidity in a short time period, the chronic and long-term effects of sanctions may be more tangible than their acute impact. In conclusion, providing health services is one of the major problems of Iran's health system during this pandemic that potentially influence on morbidity and mortality of the COVID-19. Iran needs to be free from sanctions for battling against this crisis.

Predictors of Persistence of Anxiety, Hyperarousal Stress, and Resilience During the COVID-19 Epidemic: A National Study in Iran

“…High levels of stress and anxiety were not associated with the COVID-19 epidemic in this study. We guess that stress and anxiety are associated with the two important consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic: availability of medical equipment and economic status (Abdoli, 2020 ; Taherinia and Hassanvand, 2020 ). Iran is suffering from the political and economic sanctions that have directly and indirectly restricted the activities of its banking systems.…”

“…Iran is suffering from the political and economic sanctions that have directly and indirectly restricted the activities of its banking systems. This, in turn, has led to restrictions on trade, the manufacturing sector, insurance, and ventures (Abdoli, 2020 ). These conditions have hampered the provision of basic medical equipment for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of COVID-19.…”

“…Despite the long-term sanctions on Iran, the people have faced and struggled with many problems (Abdoli, 2020 ). With their minimum facilities and maximum capabilities, they have used the opportunities for progress (Agheli and Emamgholipour, 2020 ).…”

Introduction: Towards a sociology of pandemics

“…In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Iran stood out as the early epicentre of the pandemic from which the virus spread to neighbouring countries while suffering under the US economic embargo (Abdoli, 2020). MENA is an extremely diverse region with both some of the richest countries in the Persian Gulf and some of the poorest countries of the world with poverty constantly increasing over the last decade affecting the ability to respond efficiently to the crisis (Karamouzian and Madani, 2020).…”

Sacrificio de pacientes con COVID-19 grave durante las primeras semanas de la pandemia en Perú: Actitudes y factores asociados

“…Con la llegada de la COVID-19, una enfermedad potencialmente mortal y que no tuvo un tratamiento adecuado durante el primer año, se observó que algunas personas vieron afectada su salud mental y tuvieron actitudes extremas (Asmundson & Taylor, 2020;Pirkis et al, 2021). Además, algunos opinaban que se debía ser muy restrictivo con las personas, en los aspectos relacionados al aislamiento social obligatorio; otros planteaban sanciones muy drásticas con aquellos que incumplan las normas de bioseguridad (Abdoli, 2020;White & Fradella, 2020). En este contexto también llegaron noticias extremas desde Corea del Norte, donde se especuló que "se dejaba morir" a aquellas personas que presentaban esta enfermedad (Infobae, 2020); sin embargo, esto no llegó a ser confirmado por el régimen que gobierna el país, ya que, como bien se sabe, las medidas políticas impiden que se pueda obtener información verídica y de primera mano.…”