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Claire Klobucista covers Africa, global health, and development. Before joining CFR, she was a news writer at Bustle and a fellow at the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. She holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations and Africana studies from Tufts University and a master’s degree in journalism from Boston University.
Most Recent
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Climate change is creating many pathways for zoonotic diseases to reach people. Four cases show how the climate crisis is altering disease threats and how the world can respond.
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COVID-19 is contributing to a dramatic decline in the average lifespan of Americans. The drop-off is canceling out decades of public health gains and stretching the gap between the United States and its peers.
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Public Health Threats and Pandemics
For more than a century, countries have wrestled with how to improve international cooperation in the face of major outbreaks of infectious diseases. The COVID-19 pandemic, which brought the world to a near halt in 2020 and has killed nearly seven million people, underscores the urgency. -
The world is inching closer to eradicating polio, but armed conflicts and opposition to vaccines stand in the way of finally eliminating the disease.
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With brazen terrorist attacks at home and abroad, the Somalia-based Islamist insurgent group has proved resilient despite strategic setbacks in recent years.
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Government leaders are optimistic that COVID-19 is becoming more predictable and manageable, but the pandemic isn’t over yet.
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For two years, the world has been battling COVID-19 with masks, vaccines, and lockdowns. There have been impressive results and serious missteps, but countries have failed to channel their shared experiences into a blueprint for action.
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Temporary protected status has long been used as a humanitarian solution for migrants who are unable to return home safely, but efforts to give them a path to citizenship have reignited the debate around the U.S. immigration policy.
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COVID-19 continued its worldwide spread in 2021, spurred by more contagious variants. Vaccines are highly effective, though have been unevenly distributed. Follow the pandemic’s story over the last year through graphics.
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It’s been almost a year since the first COVID-19 vaccines were approved, and half of the world is at least partly vaccinated. Now, the emergence of the omicron variant is underscoring the risks of uneven distribution.
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The United States is being flooded with fentanyl-laced fake pills, exacerbating an opioid crisis already spiraling amid the pandemic.
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The U.S. health agency regulates the country’s foods and drugs, among other products. The COVID-19 pandemic and controversy over vaccines and treatments have highlighted the FDA’s role.
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The Delta variant is driving new COVID-19 surges, even as countries around the world make gradual progress in vaccinating their populations. Five graphics show how the strain is taking over and who’s at risk.
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Sub-Saharan Africa is home to many of the world’s longest-ruling heads of state. Pro-democracy advocates have at times successfully stopped presidents from extending their mandates, but the authoritarian trend could be accelerating.
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It is crucial to learn the facts about how COVID-19 emerged to prevent future outbreaks. But China is rebuffing calls for further investigations focusing on Wuhan.
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As COVID-19 continues to ravage countries including Brazil and India, scientists warn that cases and deaths are being undercounted. Without accurate tallies, government responses won’t be enough to defeat outbreaks.
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Since 1945, many regime leaders and key figures have been brought before domestic and international courts to answer to charges including genocide and crimes against humanity, amid a larger struggle to promote and enforce the rule of law worldwide.
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Water scarcity threatens the health and development of communities around the globe. Climate change is intensifying the problem, pushing governments to find more innovative, collaborative ways to address water stress.
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Some governments and businesses are starting to use digital and paper passes that certify a person has been immunized against COVID-19, spurring debate over the ethics of vaccine passports.
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Several countries stand out for their success in delivering coronavirus vaccinations, while most of the world is struggling to figure out how to get immunizations into more arms.
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The global distribution of COVID-19 vaccines is underway, but the emergence of new coronavirus strains threatens to make the pandemic far worse before it gets better.
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The COVID-19 pandemic brought travel around the world to an abrupt halt in 2020. Nations are still trying to grasp the consequences, and restarting movement could take years.
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COVID-19 cases are surging across the United States, forcing Americans to weigh the risks of gathering for the Thanksgiving holiday. How have other countries handled holidays amid the pandemic?
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Vaccines are a major public health success story, but the COVID-19 pandemic underscores the many challenges involved in getting a vaccine to everyone who needs it.
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Global food insecurity has surged amid the coronavirus pandemic, threatening to worsen humanitarian crises and spur further mass migration.
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Opposition supporters, fed up with a corrupt political system, lack of economic opportunity, and continued violence, are demanding the president’s resignation.
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As the pandemic continues, more than half of the world’s countries are mandating the wearing of face masks in public. Is it helping to slow the spread of COVID-19?
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Educators worldwide are facing the agonizing decision of whether to resume in-person instruction while there’s still no cure for the new coronavirus. Countries including Denmark, India, and Kenya are taking different approaches.
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The federal agency has a broad mandate to protect Americans’ health and an expansive global reach. But the COVID-19 pandemic has been one of its most daunting challenges.
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The swift development of effective vaccines against COVID-19 was an unprecedented scientific achievement. But production challenges, vaccine nationalism, and new variants have all presented hurdles.
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Here’s how different health-care systems, including single-payer and government-run, have contended with the coronavirus.
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The Trump administration hopes that a free trade agreement with Nairobi will be a counterweight to Beijing’s growing role across Africa and a model for bilateral deals with others on the continent.
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A new coronavirus that originated in China has spread worldwide, sickening hundreds of thousands and halting economic activity. Many countries have imposed unprecedented measures to stop local outbreaks.
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CFR showcases eleven maps that help explain the events that grabbed the world’s attention in the past year.
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Public Health Threats and Pandemics
An outbreak of a lung illness linked to vaping is raising the pressure on countries to rein in the booming e-cigarette industry. -
Washington is hoping it can force asylum seekers to stay south of the border.
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Long-standing financial troubles and drought in Zimbabwe have pushed millions to the brink of starvation.
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Gulf powers have lined up behind Sudan’s ruling military council. Where Sudan goes from here could depend on whether other powers play a countervailing role.
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An outbreak in the DRC has spread to neighboring Uganda, and conflict and mistrust of health workers is impeding international efforts to contain the disease.
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The ICC was created to bring justice to the world’s worst war criminals, but debate over the court still rages.
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The United States has been helping Somalia fight al-Shabab militants for more than a decade, but rights groups say increasing drone strikes are putting civilians at risk.
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Measles cases have spiked as a growing number of anti-vaxxers, opting out of immunizations for their kids, threaten decades of progress toward eliminating the disease.
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A long-awaited election in the Democratic Republic of Congo offers hope for the country’s first democratic transition, but a contested result could incite turmoil.
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This year saw progress in areas from species comebacks to space exploration.
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President Joe Biden’s attempts to grapple with a record number of migrants are keeping the role of border enforcement at the center of the U.S. immigration debate.
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Ethiopia’s prime minister promised an aggressive reform agenda, but renewed turmoil threatens to throw the country’s democratic transition off course.
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As technology companies and carmakers become increasingly reliant on cobalt, many business, government, and nonprofit leaders have grown concerned about the mineral’s controversial supply chain.
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Public Health Threats and Pandemics
Less than a century after the discovery of antibiotics, the world is at risk of entering an era in which the lifesaving drugs no longer work. -
The would-be independent state strikes a contrast with Somalia as a place of relative peace and democratic stability, but international recognition has remained out of reach.
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In a year of tumult, were there any positive trends? Experts point to a number of areas where progress was made, from reducing child mortality and poverty to improving women’s rights.
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An attack on Green Berets in southwest Niger has reignited a debate over U.S. policy in the region that stretches back decades.
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U.S. trade with sub-Saharan Africa has declined in recent years, prompting analysts to question the effectiveness of a preferential trade program for the region.
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Public Health Threats and Pandemics
Opioid addiction and abuse in the United States has become a prolonged epidemic, endangering public health, economic output, and national security. -
Federal investigators in Brazil have uncovered corruption at the highest levels of the government and in the country’s largest corporations.
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The United States accepts hundreds of thousands of foreign workers each year in a variety of industries. Persistent U.S. labor shortages and accusations of abuse have reenergized the debate over the scale of these programs.
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Lasting solutions to the food emergencies affecting millions of people in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen require an end to violence in those countries, says World Food Program Chief Economist Arif Husain.
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The battle over the Trump administration’s executive order on immigration raises weighty constitutional questions involving presidential power and the judiciary’s role in national security, explains expert Cristina Rodriguez.
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Refugees and Displaced Persons
The United States has long been a safe haven for refugees from around the world. President Biden is working to expand the country’s resettlement program after the Trump administration made sharp cuts. -
President Donald J. Trump has wide latitude to enact the sweeping changes to U.S. foreign policy that he has promised, but his executive authority is constrained by congressional legislation, treaty obligations, and bureaucratic processes.
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Public Health Threats and Pandemics
Endemic to the African tropics, the Ebola virus has killed thousands in recent years, putting the World Health Organization and major donor countries in the limelight as they’ve grappled with how to respond to outbreaks. -
Through mass kidnappings, bombings, and other acts of terrorism, the Islamist insurgent group remains an enduring threat to northern Nigeria and the Lake Chad Basin.
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Al-Shabaab remains capable of carrying out massive attacks in Somalia and nearby countries despite a long-running African Union offensive against the Islamist terrorist group.
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Comprehensive immigration reform has eluded Congress for years. With border crossings at a record high, how are policymakers responding?
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Africa continues to have more peacekeeping missions than any other continent. As conflict-stricken countries increasingly look outside the United Nations for support, experts say reforms are necessary to improve peacebuilding.
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Terrorism and Counterterrorism
The Colombian government and FARC rebels have signed a historic peace agreement that charts a path to sustainable peace after decades of civil war.