Economic Research Forum This working paper analyzes how the outbreak of COVID-19 in the MENA region affected the accelerating digital transformation in business firms. The results demonstrate a strong association between the pandemic outbreak and digitization. They also show that the firms operating in the service sector were more likely to adopt digital solutions. Working…
Read MoreInternational Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth This article examines the social protection responses and strategies adopted by Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and UAE in combating the COVID-19 pandemic. Beyond merely stating the different policies, this paper focuses closely on the level of equity and real impact of these protective responses on different factions of society,…
Read MoreNature Scientific Reports This article utilizes nighttime lights data from NASA from 584 urban areas to track the implementation and adherence to curfew and lockdown measures in 17 MENA countries during the first four months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal Article
Read MoreThe American University in Cairo Ahmed Moustapha, a professor and chair of AUC’s Department of Biology has conducted a project that will establish molecular surveillance of covid genomes in the MENA region. He therefore received 2.1 million dollars from the “Wellcome Trust” which will enable him to lead an international group of scientists from MENA…
Read MoreBMC Public Health This article evaluates and compares public opinion on the governmental measures to control the spread of COVID-19 of high, low and middle-income countries in the Middle East. When benchmarked with international levels of satisfaction, GCC countries scored highly whereas Lebanon scored poorly. Journal Article
Read MoreHarvard International Review This article focuses on the MENA region in juxtaposing the global spike of 3.9 trillion USD in billionaires’ wealth during the first year of the pandemic with the parallel loss of 3.7 trillion USD in workers’ assets. Article
Read MoreAgence Française de Développement This article assesses the efficiency of social safety nets in the MENA region in lessening the burden of mitigating food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also provides context for the chronic undernourishment of over 50 million people in the region in 2019. Article
Read MoreAgence Française de Développement This article captures the public’s behavior toward COVID-19 safety measures in each of Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia. In all these countries, the article found that women are those who mostly observe the safety measures. Article
Read MoreInterdisciplinary Journal of Applied Family Sciences This article assesses the reported family relationships during the COVID-19 pandemic and the association between these relationships and individual, interpersonal, and country-level income in eight Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries. Family relationships improved or remained unchanged for those who tested positive for COVID-19 and did not improve…
Read MoreWilson Center This Wilson Center article analyzes respondents’ opinions on their risk of contracting a COVID-19 infection, preparedness for preventing its spread, and level of responsibility to protect themselves and others. The findings suggest that within their education, age, and marital status groups, women more frequently report mask-wearing and taking actions to prevent the spread…
Read More