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Primary health care (PHC) has increased in global relevance as it has been demonstrated to be a useful strategy to promote community access to health services. Multilateral organizations and national governments have reached a consensus regarding the basic principles of PHC, but the application of these varies from country to country due to the particularities of local health systems. This article aims to review and summarize PHC strategies and the configuration of health networks in Latin American and Caribbean countries. The review was carried out using keywords in at least 9 databases. Papers in languages other than English, Portuguese, and Spanish were excluded, while non-refereed articles and regional gray literature were incorporated. As a result, 1,146 papers were identified. After three instances of analysis, 142 articles were selected for this investigation. Data were analyzed according to an analysis by theme. The evidence collected on health reforms in the region reflects the need to intensify care strategies supported by PHC and care networks. These must be resilient to changes in the population's needs and must be able to adapt to contexts of epidemiological accumulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been a change in international politics since the 2008 financial crisis, thanks to a greater spread of economic resources and military capabilities. For many, it is a radical transformation that could spell the end of US hegemony in Latin America. This paper examines the proposition, beginning with a review of the concept of hegemony, which rather than being viewed as a structural characteristic is conceived of here as a "nuanced hegemony", in other words a network of asymmetric and hierarchical relations. We can observe not just one transformation then, but the emergence of a hemispheric context that could be described as "differentiated hegemony". The United States still occupies a central position, but its foreign policy is marked by subregional fragmentation and the externalisation of electoral priorities. The paper explores the effects at subregional level, focusing on the opportunities and challenges it presents to Latin American countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses Latin America's role in an international system in flux, with high levels of uncertainty and transformations that signal a shift in the geoeconomic and geopolitical landscape across the world. Against this backdrop, the paper examines the challenges (both old and new) the region must face, focusing on the impact of global changes on regional dynamics and the capacity of the different countries to find answers both to the international situation and old and new internal problems. In addition, as an introductory paper to this monograph entitled "Geopolitics from Latin America: a change of cycle and multipolarity", it identifies the fulcrums of these changes, their impact, the main actors involved and the processes underway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This paper discusses the stages of health system resilience (HSR) and the factors underlying differences in HSR during the covid-19 pandemic, especially the vaccination challenge. We studied the relationship between vaccination strategies and macro-context backgrounds in 21 Latin American countries. Our objective was to capture the impact of those aspects in the SR and identify potential improvements for future crises and for vaccination programs in general. Methods: The study uses mixed-methods research to provide insights into how the countries' backgrounds and vaccination strategies impact the HSR. Particularly, we used explanatory sequential mixed methods, which entails a quantitative-qualitative two-phase sequence. The quantitative phase was conducted using cluster and variance analysis, in which the HSR was measured using as a proxy the covid-19 vaccination outcomes in three cut-offs of reaching 25%, 50%, and 75% of population coverage. This approach allows us to discriminate covid-19 vaccination progress by stages and contrast it to the qualitative stage, in which we performed a country-case analysis of the background conditions and the changes in vaccination strategies that occurred during the corresponding dates. Results: The paper provides a rich comparative case analysis of countries, classifying them by early, prompt, and delayed performers. The results show that differences in vaccination performance are due to flexibility in adapting strategies, cooperation, and the ability to design multilevel solutions that consider the needs of various actors in the health ecosystem. These differences vary depending on the vaccination stage, which suggests the importance of acknowledging learning, diffusion, and feedback processes at the regional level. Conclusions: We identified the importance of societal well-being as an ideal country antecedent for high and sustained levels of performance in covid-19 vaccination. Whereas in other countries where the set-up and beginning phases were rough, the value of the operational decisions and the learning on the move regarding their own and their peers' trajectories were crucial and were reflected in performance improvement. A contribution of this study is that the above-mentioned analysis was done using vaccination coverage cut-off points that allow a performance view that takes into consideration the stages of the vaccination progress and the learning process that goes with it. As well as framing this into the HSR shock cycles that allow to differentiate the stages of resilience on which countries must act. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global university rankings (GUR) have become increasingly influential as a proxy measure of higher education quality. The more recent development of regionalised forms of rankings has increased their global reach, drawing a greatly expanded range of institutions into their orbit. As a result, regionalised GUR have developed an increasing potential power to shape social perceptions, institutional actions, and everyday academic practices. In this paper, the perceived impact of regionalised forms of GUR is analysed from the perspective of Latin American higher education. Based on a critical meta-synthesis framed by a glonacal heuristic (Marginson and Rhoades, Higher Education 43:281–309, 2002), the tensions arising around the application of regionalised forms of global rankings are mapped. Specifically, the impact of rankings on conceptions of the mission of universities is foregrounded. The meta-synthesis identifies three primary tensions around the regional application of GUR in Latin American contexts: how conceptions of regional higher education quality are most effectively developed, how the local university is imagined under the weight of global expectations, and the relativised value of local agency in assessing quality outcomes. The findings suggest that GUR have created strong fissures in Latin American higher education regarding the missions of institutions, particularly in confronting the powerful hegemonies of the epistemologies of the Global North imposing themselves on Latin American higher education. The paper concludes that the stratification and social anxiety caused by the regional applications of GUR may not be necessarily productive in encouraging regional institutional diversity or in enhancing the local relevance of higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dependency theory had great influence in Latin America between 1940 and 1970, but since then it has lost political and academic relevance. However, in recent years, the dependency agenda has been increasingly revisited, incorporating new analytical axes and conceptual bridges with other theories. Despite this, this agenda remains largely blind to gender and racial-ethnic inequalities. This paper aims precisely to address this gap by combining the dependency school with feminist economics to address the links between gender inequalities and Latin American peripheral position. In particular, I propose to develop two analytical axes resulting from the combination of both currents. First, I argue that gender inequalities function as 'adjustment variables' in the 'up' and 'down' economic cycles of Latin American countries. Thus, women's wages and more precarious working conditions constitute a central axis of peripheral countries in the international competition for attracting capital. Second, I argue that the large wage gap and high informality derived from the productive structure of the periphery catalyse the commodification of 'low-cost' paid domestic work. This 'cheap' care work satisfies the care needs not only of the upper-middle sectors of the peripheries, but also of the central markets through Global Care Chains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the ties between Latin America and Asia by moving beyond the homogenisation of the two regions through elevating the importance of opposition to a third party, in this case an "imperialist" and developed North. In contrast to normative analyses based on outmoded conceptions of world history, it proposes an intellectual exercise that problematises the interregional bond by placing the emphasis on heterogeneities rather than broad bush approaches that ignore the complex and diverse national and regional realities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a world of growing international competition and rivalry between China and the United States, Latin America and the European Union (EU) are caught in the same thorny dilemma. Positioned between these global giants, both regions are facing a retorn to a Westphalian system of nation-states, which undermines their roles as emerging regional players. In view of these new global challenges in Latin America and the EU, this paper uses a qualitative and comparative approach to explore foreign policy discourses on autonomy in both regions. It examines their goals and priorities and assesses the potential regional and interregional consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The international system is in a period of transition, marked by a weakening of multilateralism, challenges to the liberal order and the consolidation of new global leaderships. In addition, various cross-border crises, like the COVID-19 pandemic, have compounded the effects of these changes at a regional level. Given this context, what room is there for regional cooperation in Latin America? As a tool for regional coordination and integration into international flows and dynamics, regionalism can boast achievements, but challenges remain. In analytical terms, this paper proposes an approach that enables an examination of the combination of interests, ideas and institutions at play on a regional level in Latin America. The central argument is that the changing dynamics of regionalism are a product of the way in which states' interests interact with ideas about the region in a specific institutional environment over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay explores the evolution of the humanitarian disarmament initiative toward the TPNW and the links and influences from Latin America civil society efforts. Shifting away from traditional military objectives, humanitarian disarmament integrates civil society organizations, prioritizes Human Security over State security, and emphasizes the humanitarian impact of weapons. The paper examines key campaigns, including the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), the Control Arms Campaign, the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC), and the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), elucidating their advocacy strategies. It highlights the unique features of humanitarian disarmament, stressing obligations beyond elimination, addressing challenges in multilateral forums, and presenting Latin America's distinct approach. The essay concludes by discussing the status of nuclear disarmament in the region, emphasizing universalization efforts and contextual challenges, including the rise of alt-right movements and the region's historical commitment to nuclear disarmament. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cystic fibrosis (CF), an autosomal recessive disease, is caused by variants in both alleles of the CF transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene. A new assay based on allele-specific polymerase chain reaction and high-resolution melting analysis was developed for the detection of 18 CF-causing CFTR variants previously identified in Cuba and Latin America. The assay is also useful for zygosity determination of mutated alleles and includes internal controls. The reaction mixtures were normalized and evaluated using blood samples collected on filter paper. The evaluation of analytical parameters demonstrated the specificity and sensitivity of the method to detect the included CFTR variants. Internal and external validations yielded a 100% agreement between the new assay and the used reference tests. This assay can complement CF newborn screening not only in Cuba but also in Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Applying a comparative regionalism approach to study regionalism(s) in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Latin America (LA), and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), this paper outlines what lessons Latin America and ASEAN regionalism(s) hold for CARICOM based on its current updated model of that concept. With the rise of deglobalisation and the retreat towards regionalism, analysing how different regionalism models approach global, regional, and national power dynamics outlines how these regional institutions manage the externalities of colonialism and imperialism over time. The article concludes by recommending what further policies and principles CARICOM might 'borrow' from these counterparts to strengthen its regional project for the next 50 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting from a question about the "diasporic" position of certain authors of cultural criticism in Latin America, always halfway between academic affiliation and a kind of fractious position regarding their increasingly bureaucratized practices of knowledge administration, this paper proposes a reading of three representative texts by the Brazilian-Argentine critic Raul Antelo: Crítica acéfala, Archifilologías latinoamericanas. Lecturas tras el agotamiento and A ruinologia. These strange and problematic texts seem to be articulated from a position that not only (post)critically revises the foundations of more conventional criticism, but also moves toward the behavior of the most radical bids of artistic conceptualism; in other words, in them criticism becomes an act: intervention. And therein lies its forceful emergence in the framework of contemporary literary and cultural studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to identify the contributions that internal communication has on the functioning of higher education organizations by analyzing the current state of research on the subject. For this purpose, a systematic review was carried out following the PRISMA methodology. The search for articles in the open databases Redalyc and Dialnet and in the closed databases Ebsco-Academic Search Ultimate, Ebsco-Business Source Complete, Web of Science was based on 328 articles to which four filters were applied, resulting in a fi- nal corpus of 18 articles. The main findings determined that the topic has been developed mostly by authors from Latin America; the research takes into account all educational agents (students, teachers, administrators and managers) and mainly has four approaches: internal communication and its relationship with other elements; from the approach of the inclusion of digital media; as part of organizational functioning and from the training of communication professionals. It is concluded that internal communication is considered an important element for the fulfillment of organizational objectives and the generation of motivation, sense of belonging and integration of all personnel. However, it is considered as implicit in the functioning of educational organizations and therefore specific planning, development and evaluation processes are not carried out. Greater attention should be paid to internal communication in order to exploit its potential as a strategy for the improvement of educational organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim and background: Short, pragmatic measures of interpersonal violence are needed to facilitate effective evaluation and equitable translation of prevention interventions in low-resource contexts. Measures need to be (1) valid in contexts of high vulnerability, (2) capable of efficiently evaluating multiple forms of violence perpetration/victimization in diverse settings, (3) brief and inexpensive to users/implementers, and (4) sensitive to change. This study reports on the development and evaluation of a measure of adolescent interpersonal violence for use in lowresource contexts. Materials and methods: Informed by the “Psychometric and Pragmatic Evidence Rating Scale” (PAPERS) process, we followed a four-step process: (1) define violence using qualitative interviews with local stakeholders, (2) develop items for a pragmatic measure, (3) pilot the survey measure with target populations in two different low-resource contexts to evaluate the psychometric properties, and (4) review and revise the measure to maximize future use. Results: We synthesized qualitative interviews, community engagement (CE) studios, and expert reviews to generate 20 perpetration and 20 matched victimization items across eight categories of interpersonal violence. We then deployed the measure on adolescents from Nicaragua (N = 101) and the Dominican Republic (DR) (N = 111) who were participating in school-based violence prevention interventions. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) resulted in an eight-item, one-factor measure in Nicaragua and a 10-item, one-factor measure in the DR. The psychometric evaluation demonstrates acceptable reliability but limited statistically significant findings for some validity tests. Conclusion: Drawing from existing measures and sequential mixed methods analysis in low-resource contexts in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), we present a pragmatic measure for tapping into adolescent interpersonal violence. Additional refinement and cultural adaptation may be needed in each specific context to achieve maximum practicality. Clinical significance: Synthesizing existing measures into pragmatic ones improves researchers’ ability to evaluate outcomes of psychosocial health interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a boom in the power of right-wing parties that are becoming government parties in Latin America and Europe. It has been pointed out that these are distinguished from traditional right-wing parties by their common ideology that transcends national contexts, which is why they have been grouped as New Right-wing parties. This article questions whether these parties share ideological themes or whether they are heterogeneous and obey national interests. This study systemizes the New Right-wing parties' programs and classifies them to answer the question. This corpus is then studied through frequency, network, and principal component analysis. Two conclusions are reached from this. First, these parties agree on issues such as provider States and nationalist claims, and, second, their programs have diverse themes that do not show the formation of an identifiable transnational ideological agenda in their programs. Consequently, grouping these parties as an ideologically homogeneous phenomenon can make invisible the fact that they are parties that adjust to particular demands of their political environment, in a logic that obeys more catch-all parties than ideological and dogmatic parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we explore the role of trade in the evolution of labor share in Latin American countries (LAC). We use trade agreements with large economies (US, EU, and China) to capture the effect of sharp changes in trade. During the last two decades, the countries that signed these trade agreements experienced a negative trend in labor share, while in the remaining countries there is an average increase in this share, generating a gap of 7 percentage points. We apply synthetic control methods, combined with regression analysis, to estimate the average causal impact of trade agreements on labor share. While effects are heterogeneous in our eight case studies, the average impact is negative between 2 to 4 percentage points of GDP four years after the entry into force of the trade agreements. This result is robust to the specification used and to the set of countries in the donor pool. We find that trade agreements with more labor-abundant counterparts affect labor share more, in line with traditional Heckscher–Ohlin forces. We also find that, after trade agreements, exports of manufactured goods and the share of industry to GDP increase on average, most notably in the case studies where negative effects on labor share are significant, a fact compatible with enhanced participation in Global Value Chains. Finally, a decomposition shows that all the reduction in labor share is explained by a negative impact on real wages. • Since 1994 Latin American countries signed trade agreements with US, EU, and China • We use Synthetic Control to identify the effects of trade agreements on labor share • After implementing trade agreements, there is a reduction in labor share • We show that the fall in average real wages explains all the effect • Effect relates to counterpart's factor abundance, and rising manufacturing exports [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]