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Central America

Commentary

Previous Disasters Provide Important Lessons for Central America's Recovery from Hurricanes

As the global community works together to assist Central America in recovering from the disastrous 2020 hurricane season, experiences from other recent disaster recovery efforts offer some helpful lessons, both for the governments of the region as well as outsiders providing resources and support.

Jan 11, 2021
Blog

Restoring Public Trust, COVID-19 and Thanksgiving, Vaccinating Teachers: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on how the Biden-Harris administration can restore public trust, the risk of Thanksgiving becoming a super-spreader event, why teachers should be among the first to get a COVID19 vaccination, and more.

Nov 26, 2020
Report

The Benefits and Costs of Decarbonizing Costa Rica's Economy

Costa Rica set the ambitious goal of becoming carbon-neutral by 2050. An evaluation of the benefits and costs of its National Decarbonization Plan finds that under most plausible assumptions about the future, the plan would achieve or nearly achieve its goals and do so at a net economic benefit.

Nov 24, 2020
Journal Article

Practitioner Approaches to Measuring Community Resilience: The Analysis of the Resilience of Communities to Disasters Toolkit

In this article, we present the Analysis of the Resilience of Communities to Disasters (ARC-D) toolkit, a practical toolkit developed by an international aid organization, GOAL, over the course of a decade of practice.

Jul 17, 2020
Journal Article

Developing Pilot Interventions to Address Food Insecurity and Nutritional Needs of People Living With HIV in Latin America and the Caribbean: An Interinstitutional Approach Using Formative Research

Documenting high levels of food insecurity and overweight among people with HIV in Latin America and the Caribbean and highlighting food gaps have important implications for interventions, since prior efforts to address food insecurity among people with HIV have focused on underweight and wasting.

Dec 12, 2019
Blog

Childhood Trauma, Space Traffic, China–Russia Relations: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on a program that helps children exposed to trauma, making outer space safer, tighter China–Russia relations, and more.

Apr 26, 2019
News Release

Human Smuggling Via Central America Generates Hundreds of Millions of Dollars, but Transnational Criminal Groups May ...

The smuggling of unlawful migrants from the Northern Triangle region of Central America—Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador—to the United States generated between $200 million and $2.3 billion for human smugglers in 2017. The wide range reflects uncertainty about the number of migrants that travel northward, their use of smugglers and the fees they pay.

Apr 22, 2019
Research Brief

Human Smuggling Operations from Central America to the United States

Smuggling unlawful migrants from Central America to the United States generated between $200 million and $2.3 billion for human smugglers in 2017. The wide range reflects uncertainty about the number of migrants, their use of smugglers, and the fees they pay. Transnational criminal organizations are only one type of actor involved.

Apr 22, 2019
Report

Human Smuggling and Associated Revenues: What Do or Can We Know About Routes from Central America to the United States?

The authors examine the structure, operations, and financing of actors that engage in human smuggling along routes from Central America to the United States and develop a preliminary estimate of revenues associated with human smuggling.

Apr 22, 2019
Report

How to Counter Transnational Criminal Networks

Transnational criminal networks have expanded their global reach. In some cases, they have even converged with terrorist groups. How do these networks threaten U.S. interests? And what can be done to combat them?

Jan 27, 2017
Essay

Election 2016: The International Issues

America's next president will face challenges that test the fundamentals of world order. RAND experts have outlined key decisions, the dangers involved, and the least-bad options that now often pass for good ones.

Oct 7, 2016
Commentary

Understanding and Addressing the Unaccompanied Minor Immigration Issue

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.

Apr 22, 2016
Journal Article

Health and Wealth in Mesoamerica: Findings from Salud Mesomérica 2015

We examined the variation in the health outcomes and health behaviors among the poorest quintile in eight countries of Mesoamerica using data from the Salud Mesomerica 2015 baseline household surveys.

Jan 26, 2016
Journal Article

A Pre-Post Pilot Study of Peer Nutritional Counseling and Food Insecurity and Nutritional Outcomes Among Antiretroviral Therapy Patients in Honduras

This study examines nutrition and food insecurity among antiretroviral therapy patients in Honduras.

Nov 20, 2015
Commentary

In Latin America, Breaking the Cycle of Intimate-Partner Abuse One Handwritten Letter at a Time

Latin America has one of the highest rates of intimate-partner violence in the world, but a series of high-profile cases, including the murder of a journalist by her policeman husband, have propelled intimate-partner violence to the fore of Bolivia's public agenda.

Sep 30, 2015
Journal Article

Long Journey Home: Family Reunification Experiences of the Disappeared Children of El Salvador

Between 2005 and 2009, we conducted semi-structured interviews with twenty-six children, now young adults aged twenty-four to thirty-four years, who had been reunited with their biological families.

Jul 16, 2015
Journal Article

Challenges of Implementing Mhealth Interventions for Lifestyle Modification in Prehypertensive Subjects in Argentina, Guatemala, and Peru

This study describes the processes related to implementation of mHealth interventions for lifestyle modification in a randomized controlled trial conducted with prehypertensive subjects in Argentina, Guatemala, and Peru from low-resource settings.

Jul 1, 2015
Journal Article

Design and Multi-Country Validation of Text Messages for an Mhealth Intervention for Primary Prevention of Progression to Hypertension in Latin America

This study highlights the importance of developing and validating a package of simple, preventative SMS text messages, grounded in evidence and theory, across three different Latin American countries with active engagement of end users.

Apr 22, 2015
Report

Building the Guatemalan Interagency Task Force Tecún Umán: Lessons Identified

USSOUTHCOM intends to use the Interagency Task Force (IATF) Tecún Umán as a model for new counternarcotics units in Guatemala. This report describes lessons learned from the IATF and provides recommendations for resolving challenges.

Feb 9, 2015
Journal Article

Impact of Food Support on Food Security and Body Weight Among HIV Antiretroviral Therapy Recipients in Honduras: A Pilot Intervention Trial

Optimal strategies to improve food security and nutrition for people living with HIV (PLHIV) may differ in settings where overweight and obesity are prevalent and cardiovascular disease risk is a concern.

Dec 11, 2014

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