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Central America

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

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

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

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

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

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

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
Blog

Summer Reading for Congress

No matter how policymakers spend their break—meeting with home-state constituents, traveling abroad with congressional delegations, or spending time with family—this summer reading list contains policy ideas that can help them hit the ground running when they return.

Jul 31, 2014
Commentary

With Child Migrants Set to Become Students, Educators Must Prepare

Between 70,000 and 90,000 unaccompanied children are expected to cross the U.S.-Mexico border by year's end. Lost in an intensifying debate over U.S. immigration policy is the possibility that this wave will spill from shelters to schools. To best respond to this reality, policymakers and educators should consider what research says about educating migrant children.

Jul 14, 2014
Journal Article

Journal Article

Barriers and Facilitating Factors for Disease Self-Management: A Qualitative Analysis of Perceptions of Patients Receiving Care for Type 2 Diabetes And/Or Hypertension in San José, Costa Rica and Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Mexico

People living with type 2 diabetes and hypertension present different barriers and facilitating factors for disease self-management, in part based on their readiness-to-change and also due to the broader context in which they live.

Sep 1, 2013
Report

The Benefits of Nation-Building Interventions Have Exceeded the Costs

Most interventions in the past 25 years have been followed by improved security, some degree of democratization, and significant economic growth—with only a modest commitment of international military and civilian manpower and economic assistance.

Feb 4, 2013
Report

Report

Historical Lessons for Creating Local Defense Forces for Afghanistan and Beyond

Lessons learned from past cases of local defense forces used in the context of counterinsurgency—in Indochina, Algeria, South Vietnam, Oman, El Salvador, Southern Lebanon, Afghanistan, and Iraq—can be applied to the current development of the Afghan Local Police.

Sep 18, 2012
Report

Report

From Insurgency to Stability: Volume II: Insights from Selected Case Studies

This book examines six case studies of insurgencies from around the world to determine the key factors in the successful transition from counterinsurgency toward stability.

Sep 7, 2011
News Release

News Release

Latin American Cocaine Trade Persists Despite Gains Made by U.S. Efforts

Efforts by the United States to combat Latin American cocaine smugglers have disrupted drug supplies and captured key cartel leaders, but they have not significantly reduced the region's overall narcotics trade.

Jun 15, 2011
Report

Latin American Cocaine Trade Persists Despite Gains Made by U.S. Efforts

Efforts by the United States to combat Latin American cocaine smugglers have disrupted drug supplies and captured key cartel leaders, but they have not significantly reduced the region's overall narcotics trade.

Jun 15, 2011
Report

Report

Victory Has a Thousand Fathers: Detailed Counterinsurgency Case Studies

Narratives on the 30 most recent resolved insurgencies, covering the period 1978 to 2008, and data on 76 factors hypothesized to be related to the success of counterinsurgency forces supplement analyses of historical and contemporary insurgencies.

Jun 18, 2010

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