News Archive - Latin America and Africa in the News

RAND researchers often write commentaries for publications on a variety of topics. This page lists commentaries and op-eds about or related to Latin America and Africa. For a complete list of commentaries and op-eds by RAND staff, visit the RAND Newsroom.

  • Women walk near a poster displaying a government message against Ebola, at a maternity hospital in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, August 14, 2014

    The Economic Rationale for Investing in Family Planning in Sub-Saharan Africa

    Aug 3, 2016

    Proven benefits to reduced fertility — or to delayed start to childbearing and greater spacing between births — include lower maternal mortality, fewer unsafe abortions, reduced risks from early childbearing, and women's ability to engage in more income-generating opportunities.

  • The Olympic park in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 2, 2016

    The Olympic Legacy — What Can Rio Learn?

    Aug 3, 2016

    Rio will spend $14.4 billion on the Olympics. Like other host cities, it hopes to achieve an “Olympic legacy” to ensure that this investment pays dividends after the games and provides long-term economic, social, sporting, and cultural benefits.

  • Blanche and Pulchérie are midwives at a hospital in Benin, photo by Stephan Gladieu, World Bank Flickr Photo Collection/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

    The Determinants of Job Satisfaction among Nurses, Midwives, and Auxiliary Nurses in Health Clinics

    Jul 14, 2016

    Using secondary data from a performance-based financing project in health facilities, and with support from the Pardee Initiative, Nono Ayivi-Guedehoussou (cohort '09) examined the concept of work satisfaction among health workers in Bénin.

  • The RAND Center for Middle East Public Policy

    Jun 17, 2016

    The RAND Center for Middle East Public Policy (CMEPP) brings together analytic excellence and regional expertise from across the RAND Corporation to address the most critical political, social, and economic challenges facing the Middle East today.

  • Panoramic view of Santiago de Chile and Los Andes mountain range

    A Roadmap to Health Information Technology in Chile

    May 20, 2016

    This report describes a roadmap for fostering development of health information technology in Chile's public health system and presents some recommendations for the ministry to consider when implementing the roadmap.

  • April 2016 Superfoods Contest

    Creativity Reigns in Contest for Best Millet and Sorghum Recipes

    May 5, 2016

    At the second Superfoods Cookery Contest in Kampala, Uganda, professional chefs, aspiring innovators, foodies and students showed continued creativity in developing recipes using millet and sorghum.

  • Unaccompanied minors and a family stand next to Honduran border policemen after being detained at a porous border known as La Montanita, on the border of Honduras with Guatemala, June 20, 2014

    Understanding and Addressing the Unaccompanied Minor Immigration Issue

    Apr 22, 2016

    The number of unaccompanied child immigrants apprehended at the U.S. southwest border is on the rise again, the majority of them coming not from Mexico, but from Central America. Research could provide valuable information to policymakers as they try to find ways to help young immigrants.

  • Members of the Tunisian parliament wave flags after approving the country's new constitution in Tunis, January 26, 2014

    Tunisia Is an Arab Spring Success Story

    Apr 21, 2016

    Tunisia has not unraveled into civil war like Syria or Libya. It has not undergone a counter-revolution that returned it to the autocracy of its pre-revolution days, like Egypt has. Tunisia is fragile, but its success is vital to the long-term stability and societal health of the Middle East.

  • The sun sets over Suleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey

    The Middle East After the Arab Spring

    Apr 19, 2016

    A new book by RAND's Shelly Culbertson mixes travel memoir, reporting, and analysis across six Middle Eastern countries, presenting diverse experiences of the Arab Spring.

  • A Tunisian soldier holds his position during an exercise along the frontier with Libya in Sabkeht Alyun, Tunisia February 6, 2016

    Tunisia's Role in Fight Against Terrorism Discussed at RAND Conference

    Mar 30, 2016

    The fight against terrorism in Tunisia is a shared priority and responsibility with the U.S. and Europe but will also depend greatly on solving the security issues in neighboring Libya, according to participants at a March 23 conference at RAND.

  • Ggaba, Uganda - June 30, 2011: Fishing boats line the banks of Lake Victoria after most fishermen have come in for the day.

    Barriers to Linkage to HIV Care in Ugandan Fisherfolk Communities

    Mar 18, 2016

    High population mobility, competing needs, low or inconvenient access to healthcare, and HIV stigma all play a role in impeding linkage to HIV care among fisherfolk in Uganda.

  • Women from the village of Okabi in Northern Uganda participate in a group research exercise investigating the value perception of rural electrification

    After Decades of Conflict, Learning to Reap the Benefits of Taxes in Northern Uganda

    Mar 17, 2016

    The post-conflict regions of northern Uganda need more health care, legal services, psychological support, and counseling. A women's community organization is trying to get Ugandans to pay taxes while teaching them how to get the local government to spend tax money on improving public services, writes student Mahlet Woldetsadik (cohort '13).

  • One of the members of the military protecting a demonstration against candidates for a national unity government proposed by U.N. envoy for Libya Bernardino Leon, in Benghazi, Libya, October 23, 2015

    Democracy in the Arab World: Still a Mirage

    Mar 17, 2016

    From the indignant graffiti scrawled on walls across Tunis to the war-torn neighborhoods of Damascus and Tripoli, the region and the world's hopes of establishing peace and democracy have largely faded.

  • Santiago, Chile - November 14, 2011: Young woman students of high school walking down a street from school in Santiago de Chile. They wearing their blue school uniform.

    Project ALERT Drug Prevention Program in Chile

    Mar 1, 2016

    Chilé has adopted Project ALERT, a school-based drug and alcohol prevention program. Researchers explored the process of adoption and implementation in this country to understand the needs for and potential barriers to broader adoption of the program.

  • Niger's incumbent President Mahamadou Issoufou speaks to journalists after voting during the country's presidential and legislative elections in Niamey, Niger, February 21, 2016

    An African Country the West Has Ignored Could Have a Big Impact on the Global War on Terror

    Feb 26, 2016

    This week's presidential election in Niger is of real importance for U.S. interests in Africa and the global campaign against militant Islamists. A clean and peaceful election would constitute a step forward that could help secure an effective counterterrorism partner.