Empirical evidence on the impact of the "new round" of Sino-US trade frictions on China's foreign trade industrial policy and high-quality development.

The global attention on industrial policy's effectiveness spans across various sectors, particularly in international trade where the focus is on enhancing the quality of foreign trade, which is crucial to understand how research hotspots and key issues can synergize. We consider the 2018 "new round" of Sino-US trade friction as an external event and analyze panel data from 2009 to 2022 comprising 1141 Chinese A-share listed enterprises. Our empirical research unequivocally demonstrates that industrial policy has significantly propelled China's foreign trade towards high-quality development by 1.8240%. We conducted rigorous tests for robustness, heterogeneity, and endogeneity. Additionally, our results reveal that inhibitory influences arising from industrial policy on total assets or R&D investment attenuate this promotion effect; There exists a diminishing promotion effect between total assets and R&D investment. Our paper provides valuable insights into understanding their logical relationship while offering guidance for enterprises, markets, and governments in overcoming challenges collectively.

Study on major legal issues and solutions in pandemic treaty negotiations.

In December 2021, WHO's 194 member states began reaching a consensus to start the process of drafting and negotiating a pandemic treaty under the WHO Act. Although there is already a PHEIC system to deal with sudden public health events such as pandemics, the system is not sufficient to deal with global pandemic events. The draft WHO Pandemic Agreement reflects the negotiating process until 24 May 2024. The negotiating team is faced with legal issues such as the treatment of the relationship between the pandemic treaty and the International Health Regulations, the determination of the contracting model, the attribution of the pandemic definition power and the construction of the dispute settlement mechanism. Through a study of the articles of the current draft and a comparative analysis with other treaties, this paper discusses the need to distinguish the functions of the pandemic treaty and the International Health Regulations (IHR), adopt a soft and hard contracting model, establish an open and transparent pandemic determination mechanism, reform the institutional functions of WHO, and establish an effective dispute settlement mechanism in order to solve the above problems. Ultimately, fairness and justice in international public health governance will be achieved.

The Recent 2023 Earthquake in Nepal: A Global Health Perspective.

As a seismic hotspot, Nepal has endured many catastrophic earthquakes, including the 2023 Jajarkot quake. These quakes worsen the existing fragilities, resulting in difficulties in accessing healthcare, outbreaks of infectious diseases, mental health problems, and nutritional shortfalls. The article examines the complex web of health consequences, such as infectious and non-infectious diseases and malnutrition, highlighting the need for a global health lens in tackling these issues. It also reveals the long-term health effects, such as mental health disorders and increased disease susceptibility, that emerge after the quake and the importance of enhancing coordination and communication, enforcing building codes, and assisting affected communities in response to the seismic hazards. The article identifies mitigation strategies, community involvement, and international cooperation as key elements in building resilience against future quakes. It discusses the role of climate change in seismic risks and the need for research, innovation, and adaptability in global health interventions, suggesting measures such as strengthening primary healthcare, preventing avoidable health problems through education, and improving supply chains. The article calls for a holistic approach to building resilient health systems, emphasizing community engagement, prevention, and preparedness to protect the health of vulnerable groups in seismic regions.

Cooperators or competitors? The interactions between WHO and the World Bank in global health governance.

Interactions between International Organisations (IOs) within a regime complex often manifest themselves through competition and cooperation. Current research has examined the factors that promote inter-organisational competition and cooperation, yet the precise timing of when such competition or cooperation commences remains unclear. This paper focuses on two pivotal IOs in global health governance, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank, to explore the timing and onset of competition and cooperation within a regime complex, as well as the driving factors in the evolution of their inter-organisational relationships. By looking into the interactions between the WHO and the World Bank in norm-setting and resource mobilising, the paper sheds light on how their relationships have transitioned from competitors to cooperators. It systematically presents the mechanisms and processes of policy transformation in inter-organisational interactions. As a new agenda arises, IOs within a regime complex often compete for dominance, with ideational differences driving them to propose and implement distinct governance strategies. They will compete for resources and mainstream of their strategy. The negative spillover effects of competitive policies consequently undermine the effectiveness of IOs' policy, thereby undercut their legitimacy. To surmount these challenges, the international community should promote inter-institutional coordination in global governance.

Local governance of the 2014 ebola Epidemic: a PhD synthesis.

BACKGROUND: The doctoral dissertation examines how local response efforts were integrated into overall emergency management. OBJECTIVES: It seeks to understand the role and effectiveness of community-based actors in addressing collective action problems. METHODS: Sixty-seven semi-structured interviews were conducted from January to July 2017 in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Key informants include healthcare workers, traditional leaders, and community stakeholders, such as non-governmental organization representatives and volunteers. RESULTS: Findings show that traditional and community leaders responded to the public health emergency via rulemaking, quarantine, travel limitation, healthcare referrals, health sensitization, and door-to-door contact tracing. These actions by local leaders helped to change behaviors and improve cooperation. Sierra Leone had 32.3% more Ebola cases than Liberia but 18% fewer deaths. Sierra Leone had integrated traditional and community leaders before the scale up of international aid resources. CONCLUSION: This suggests that actions taken by traditional and community leaders improved overall efforts, and in some areas, before scaled-up humanitarian interventions. Bilateral engagement with local community actors should be integrated in every public health response to improve cooperation, and it should be done before an intervention is conceived and executed.

Main findings: Bottom-up legislation and community-led action were significant in containing the EVD spread in Liberia and Sierra Leone.Contribution to knowledge: Theoretical contribution centers on the governance patterns of Traditional Local Institutions. Evidence-based contribution was the observation of polycentric governance patterns of demand and supply-side barriers between traditional, state, and aid institutions.Global health impact for policy and action: Policymakers should contextualize soft factors such as trust, which can hamper technical advice. Any intervention should include bilateral engagement with local community leaders.

Learning from the Montreal Protocol to improve the global governance of antimicrobial resistance.

The Montreal Protocol has played a critical role in promoting global collective action to phase out the use of ozone-depleting substances, ultimately preventing millions of cases of skin cancer, cataracts and other health issues related to ultraviolet radiation exposure. This success entails transferable lessons for coordinated action required to improve the global governance of other challenges. Like ozone depletion, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a challenge of the global commons, requiring coordinated actions across human, animal and environmental sectors. We identify equity, flexibility and accountability as three core governance principles that underlie the success of the protocol and employ the 3-i framework to understand how interests, ideas and institutions contributed to the protocol's success. Equity-promoting strategies consisted of an inclusive negotiation process, supporting developing countries with multilateral funding and a progressive compliance model. Flexibility was built into the protocol through the development of country-specific strategies, reorienting incentive structures for industry and facilitating regular amendments in response to emerging scientific evidence. Accountability was promoted by mobilising public advocacy, establishing targets and enforcement mechanisms and conducting independent scientific and technical assessments. Applying our proposed principles presents an opportunity to improve the global governance of AMR. Finally, we acknowledge limitations to our analysis, including our focus on a single environmental treaty, significantly greater funding requirements and multifacetted stakeholder involvement in the case of AMR, differing market and incentives structures in antibiotic development and distribution, and ethical concerns with using trade restrictions as a policy tool.

Overconfidence in climate overshoot.

Global emission reduction efforts continue to be insufficient to meet the temperature goal of the Paris Agreement1. This makes the systematic exploration of so-called overshoot pathways that temporarily exceed a targeted global warming limit before drawing temperatures back down to safer levels a priority for science and policy2-5. Here we show that global and regional climate change and associated risks after an overshoot are different from a world that avoids it. We find that achieving declining global temperatures can limit long-term climate risks compared with a mere stabilization of global warming, including for sea-level rise and cryosphere changes. However, the possibility that global warming could be reversed many decades into the future might be of limited relevance for adaptation planning today. Temperature reversal could be undercut by strong Earth-system feedbacks resulting in high near-term and continuous long-term warming6,7. To hedge and protect against high-risk outcomes, we identify the geophysical need for a preventive carbon dioxide removal capacity of several hundred gigatonnes. Yet, technical, economic and sustainability considerations may limit the realization of carbon dioxide removal deployment at such scales8,9. Therefore, we cannot be confident that temperature decline after overshoot is achievable within the timescales expected today. Only rapid near-term emission reductions are effective in reducing climate risks.

Asian Neonatal Network Collaboration (AsianNeo): a study protocol for international collaborative comparisons of health services and outcomes to improve quality of care for sick newborn infants in Asia - survey, cohort and quality improvement studies.

INTRODUCTION: Reducing neonatal deaths in premature infants in low- and middle-income countries is key to reducing global neonatal mortality. International neonatal networks, along with patient registries of premature infants, have contributed to improving the quality of neonatal care; however, the involvement of low-to-middle-income countries was limited. This project aims to form an international collaboration among neonatal networks in Asia (AsianNeo), including low-, middle- and high-income countries (or regions). Specifically, it aims to determine outcomes in sick newborn infants, especially very low birth weight (VLBW) infants or very preterm infants, with a view to improving the quality of care for such infants. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Currently, AsianNeo comprises nine neonatal networks from Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Thailand. AsianNeo will undertake the following four studies: (1) institutional questionnaire surveys investigating neonatal intensive care unit resources and the clinical management of sick newborn infants, with a focus on VLBW infants (nine countries/regions); (2) a retrospective cohort study to describe and compare the outcomes of VLBW infants among Asian countries and regions (four countries/regions); (3) a prospective cohort study to develop the AsianNeo registry of VLBW infants (six countries/regions); and (4) implementation and evaluation of educational and quality improvement projects in AsianNeo countries and regions (nine countries/regions). ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study protocol was approved by the Research Ethics Board of the National Center for Child Health and Development, Tokyo, Japan (reference number 2020-244, 2022-156). The study findings will be disseminated through educational programmes, quality improvement activities, conference presentations and medical journal publications.

EXPERIENCE OF CREATIVE INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE UKRAINE-AUSTRALIA RESEARCH FUND.

Science and politics have always gone together. This is what happened in our days when Russia's military aggression against Ukraine, which began in 2014, turned into a full-scale military invasion in 2022 and a war of liberation for the independence and freedom of Ukraine. These events dramatically affected not only the fate of millions of citizens but also brought the destruction of fields of science and technology important for the existence of the country.

The role of international renal disaster preparedness working groups in difficult settings: bridge over troubled water.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Disasters, natural and man-made, are rising in frequency and pose significant challenges to the provision of renal care worldwide. Patients with kidney disease, particularly those on dialysis, are extremely vulnerable during disasters. This timely review summarizes the potential roles international renal disaster preparedness working groups have in addressing these challenges. RECENT FINDINGS: The vulnerability of kidney patients has galvanized the evolution of global response mechanisms and the contemporary efforts of various organizations. In this review, the importance of preparedness, networking, and collaborations at all levels are highlighted, citing recent crises. It will also note key areas for improvement, including an enhanced engagement with global health organizations. Finally, it is imperative to urge the international community to recognize that individuals with kidney disease are often among the first patient groups to suffer in disaster zones. These messages are intended to persuade global stakeholders that kidney patients, including pediatric ones, should be prioritized as requiring immediate support during disasters. SUMMARY: The unique and life-threatening challenges faced by individuals with kidney disease in natural disaster- or war-torn areas demand special consideration in humanitarian efforts and international crisis response strategies. International organizations can play a major role in this regard.

Bill targeting Chinese firms worries U.S. researchers.

Biosecure Act could hinder science collaborations, limit sequencer purchases.

A WHO remit to improve global standards for medical products of human origin.

In recent decades, considerable advances have been made in assuring the safety of blood transfusion and organ transplantation. However, with the increasing movement of medical products of human origin across international boundaries, there is a need to enhance global norms and governance. These products, which include blood, organs, tissues, cells, human milk and faecal microbiota, are today crucial for health care but they also pose unique risks due to their human origin, such as disease transmission and graft failure. Moreover, the demand for medical products of human origin often exceeds supply, leading to dependence on international supply chains, and emerging technologies like cell and gene therapy present further challenges because of their unproven efficacy and long-term risks. Current regulatory mechanisms, especially in low- and middle-income countries, are insufficient. The World Health Organization (WHO) has both the mandate and experience to lead the development of international quality and safety standards, consistent product nomenclature, and robust traceability and biovigilance systems. An international, multistakeholder approach is critical for addressing the complexities of how medical products of human origin are used globally and for ensuring their safety. This approach will require promoting uniform product descriptions, enhancing digital communication systems and leveraging existing resources to support countries in establishing regulations for these products. As illustrated by World Health Assembly resolution WHA77.4 on transplantation in 2024, WHO's ongoing efforts to ensure the safe, efficient and ethical use of medical products of human origin worldwide provide the opportunity to galvanize international cooperation on establishing norms.

Au cours des dernières décennies, des progrès considérables ont été réalisés pour assurer la sécurité des transfusions sanguines et des transplantations d'organes. Cependant, avec l'augmentation de la circulation de produits médicaux d'origine humaine par-delà les frontières internationales, il est impératif de renforcer la gouvernance et les normes mondiales. Ces produits, parmi lesquels figurent le sang, les organes, les tissus, les cellules, le lait maternel et le microbiote fécal, sont aujourd'hui essentiels pour les soins de santé. Mais ils comportent également des risques particuliers en raison de leur origine humaine, comme la transmission de maladies et le rejet de greffe. En outre, la demande en produits médicaux d'origine humaine dépasse souvent l'offre, ce qui engendre une dépendance vis-à-vis des chaînes d'approvisionnement internationales, tandis que des technologies émergentes telles que la thérapie cellulaire et génique posent de nouveaux défis en raison de leur efficacité non démontrée et des risques à long terme. Les mécanismes de réglementation actuels sont insuffisants, surtout dans les pays à revenu faible et intermédiaire. L'Organisation mondiale de la Santé (OMS) possède à la fois le mandat et l'expérience nécessaires pour mener le développement de normes internationales de qualité et de sécurité, d'une nomenclature cohérente des produits, ainsi que de systèmes de traçabilité et de biovigilance solides. Une approche internationale et multilatérale est cruciale pour gérer la complexité liée à l'utilisation de produits médicaux d'origine humaine dans le monde et garantir leur innocuité. Cette approche devra prévoir la mise en place de descriptions de produits uniformes, l'amélioration des systèmes de communication numériques et l'exploitation des ressources existantes afin d'aider les pays à définir des règles pour de tels produits. Comme l'illustre la résolution WHA77.4 de l'Assemblée mondiale de la Santé sur la transplantation, émise en 2024, les efforts constants de l'OMS visant à assurer la sécurité, l'efficacité et l'usage éthique des produits médicaux d'origine humaine à travers le monde représente l'occasion de stimuler la coopération internationale en matière d'établissement des normes.

En las últimas décadas, se han realizado avances considerables para garantizar la seguridad de las transfusiones de sangre y los trasplantes de órganos. Sin embargo, con el creciente movimiento de productos médicos de origen humano a través de las fronteras internacionales, es necesario reforzar las normas y la gobernanza mundiales. Estos productos, que incluyen sangre, órganos, tejidos, células, leche humana y microbiota fecal, son hoy cruciales para la asistencia sanitaria, pero también plantean riesgos únicos por su origen humano, como la transmisión de enfermedades y el fracaso de los injertos. Además, la demanda de productos médicos de origen humano suele ser superior a la oferta, lo que hace depender de las cadenas de suministro internacionales, y las tecnologías emergentes, como la terapia celular y genética, plantean nuevos desafíos debido a su eficacia no demostrada y a sus riesgos a largo plazo. Los mecanismos reguladores actuales, en especial en los países de ingresos bajos y medios, son insuficientes. La Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) tiene tanto el mandato como la experiencia para liderar el desarrollo de estándares internacionales de calidad y seguridad, nomenclatura coherente de productos y sistemas sólidos de trazabilidad y biovigilancia. Para responder a la complejidad del uso global de los productos médicos de origen humano y garantizar su seguridad, es fundamental un enfoque internacional que incluya a todas las partes interesadas. Este enfoque requerirá promover descripciones uniformes de los productos, reforzar los sistemas de comunicación digital y aprovechar los recursos existentes con el fin de ayudar a los países a establecer normativas para estos productos. Como se ilustra en la resolución WHA77.4 de la Asamblea Mundial de la Salud sobre trasplantes en 2024, los esfuerzos en curso de la OMS para asegurar el uso seguro, eficiente y ético de los productos médicos de origen humano en todo el mundo brindan la oportunidad de impulsar la cooperación internacional en el establecimiento de normas.

[Collaborations in publications on pediatric anesthesiology in the D-A-CH countries]. / Kollaborationen bei kinderanästhesiologischen Publikationen im D-A-CH-Raum.

BACKGROUND: Collaborations are an essential element of scientific activity and particularly important in fields such as pediatric anesthesiology, where the evidence base in general is relatively limited. A recent scientometric analysis revealed a geographic diversification of publication activity in pediatric anesthesiology within the last two decades, accompanied by a surge in international collaborations. OBJECTIVES: Given the hypothesis of a similar growth in the activity and dynamics of publications in pediatric anesthesiology, the objective of this scientometric study was to analyze the publication activity and collaboration habits in research in pediatric anesthesiology from Germany, Austria and Switzerland (D-A-CH). METHOD: This secondary analysis identified all publications on pediatric anesthesiology with an affiliation from the D­A-CH countries between 2001 and 2020 from PubMed and Web of Science. The query parameters included the timeframe 2001-2020, authors' affiliations tied to anesthesiology departments (using various forms of the term "anesthesia"), and the mention of pediatric interest in titles or abstracts. The data underwent standardization to account for linguistic variations. The publications were assigned to a state, city and institution based on the correspondence address, to a year based on the publication date and to a source based on the journal. The primary endpoint was publication activity and dynamics, represented by the number of publications and the respective growth rates (calculated as the linear regression slope). Secondary endpoints included the share of collaborations within and outside the D­A-CH region (at the country and institutional level), the distribution of publication activity and the most prominent sources of publications. RESULTS: Between 2001 and 2020 a total of 3406 publications on pediatric anesthesiology involving authors from the D­A-CH countries were identified. Of these 2807 (82.4%) had a correspondence address in D­A-CH. The average annual growth rate of publications with a correspondence address was + 2.9% for the D­A-CH countries and + 7.7% for publications with collaborations. The number of publications in which an institution from D­A-CH was named as a coauthor from a correspondence address outside D­A-CH also increased by an average of 7.4% per year during the study period. The majority of collaborations occurred between institutions within the D­A-CH region, although Swiss institutions exhibited a much higher proportion of collaborations outside the region. Of all publications with a correspondence address 90% originated from 46 cities. The most prominent source was Die Anästhesiologie for publications from Germany, and Pediatric Anesthesia for publications from Austria and Switzerland. CONCLUSION: The number of publications in pediatric anesthesiology from the D­A-CH countries has increased over the past two decades, accompanied by a surge in collaborations. It is hoped that increased collaboration will contribute to a higher level of evidence in pediatric anesthesiology care.