Risk factors for Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) death in a population cohort study from the Western Cape province, South Africa

Risk factors for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) death in sub-Saharan Africa and the effects of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and tuberculosis on COVID-19 outcomes are unknown. We conducted a population cohort study using linked data from adults attending public-sector health facilities in the Western Cape, South Africa. We used Cox proportional hazards models, adjusted for age, sex, location, and comorbidities, to examine the associations between HIV, tuberculosis, and COVID-19 death from 1 March to 9 June 2020 among (1) public-sector “active patients” (≥1 visit in the 3 years before March 2020); (2) laboratory-diagnosed COVID-19 cases; and (3) hospitalized COVID-19 cases. We calculated the standardized mortality ratio (SMR) for COVID-19, comparing adults living with and without HIV using modeled population estimates.Among 3 460 932 patients (16% living with HIV), 22 308 were diagnosed with COVID-19, of whom 625 died. COVID19 death was associated with male sex, increasing age, diabetes, hypertension, and chronic kidney disease. HIV was associated with COVID-19 mortality (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 2.14; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.70–2.70), with similar risks across strata of viral loads and immunosuppression. Current and previous diagnoses of tuberculosis were associated with COVID-19 death (aHR, 2.70 [95% CI, 1.81–4.04] and 1.51 [95% CI, 1.18–1.93], respectively). The SMR for COVID-19 death associated with HIV was 2.39 (95% CI, 1.96–2.86); population attributable fraction 8.5% (95% CI, 6.1–11.1)

Challenges Facing Investment Disputes: Reconsidering Dispute Resolution in International Investment Agreements

This volume brings together significant contributions from leading voices in academia, the legal profession and government on the increasingly important topic of international investment and the legal system in which it operates. With the burgeoning size of international capital flows matched only by an explosion in international agreements intending to regulate the field, there is increasing potential for incoherence amongst and between treaties and arbitral decisions. Appeals Mechanism in International Investment Disputes compiles, compares and contrasts the analysis and arguments of the leading scholars, practitioners and government officials on the future of the international investment law regime. Its special emphasis is on the question of an appellate body for international investment disputes. The authors also seek ways to streamline and improve the system, channeling the benefits of free trade and investment flows to people in both the developing and emerging markets. The Appendices provide readers with extensive background material to place the chapters into context. Selected sections include concise commentaries to further illuminate the timely themes covered by the chapters. The volume is singular in its success at bringing together so many exceptional individuals on a question of growing import-how to improve the international law regime to increase prosperity and further global development. If a reader wants to know what the influential voices in international law are saying right now, and in a concise and readable format, this is the publication to have.https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/facsch_bk_contributions/1389/thumbnail.jp

Challenges Facing Investment Disputes: Reconsidering Dispute Resolution in International Investment Agreements

This volume brings together significant contributions from leading voices in academia, the legal profession and government on the increasingly important topic of international investment and the legal system in which it operates. With the burgeoning size of international capital flows matched only by an explosion in international agreements intending to regulate the field, there is increasing potential for incoherence amongst and between treaties and arbitral decisions. Appeals Mechanism in International Investment Disputes compiles, compares and contrasts the analysis and arguments of the leading scholars, practitioners and government officials on the future of the international investment law regime. Its special emphasis is on the question of an appellate body for international investment disputes. The authors also seek ways to streamline and improve the system, channeling the benefits of free trade and investment flows to people in both the developing and emerging markets. The Appendices provide readers with extensive background material to place the chapters into context. Selected sections include concise commentaries to further illuminate the timely themes covered by the chapters. The volume is singular in its success at bringing together so many exceptional individuals on a question of growing import-how to improve the international law regime to increase prosperity and further global development. If a reader wants to know what the influential voices in international law are saying right now, and in a concise and readable format, this is the publication to have.https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/facsch_bk_contributions/1389/thumbnail.jp