An Overview of the COVID-19 Situation: Lessons Learned from Iran

April 22, 2020 Arash Alaei, Kamiar Alaei Discussion will include a brief overview of the current situation of the coronavirus in Iran followed by a health policy analysis of: • When, how and why the virus entered Iran; • Whether it was preventable or manageable at early stages; • What was the initial reaction of policymakers in Iran; • A briefing about the controversy among stakeholders on when and how to respond; • How and why the initial policies changed over time and the extent to which they were politically motivated. Kamiar Alaei, MD, DrPH and Arash Alaei, MD are global health policy experts who have been working in conservative social settings for two decades. They are the co-President of the Institute for International Health and Education working in several countries in the Middle East and Central Asia. They co-founded the first ‘Triangular Clinic’ for three target groups in Iran (drug users, HIV patients, and STD cases), documented by the World Health Organization as a ‘Best Practice Model’. In recognition of their work, Drs. Alaei were awarded: Jonathan Mann award for Global Health and Human Rights by the Global Health Council; World Health Organization/PAHO Award for Health and Human Rights; Inaugural Elizabeth Taylor Award sponsored by the International AIDS Society and amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research in recognition of efforts to advocate for human rights in the field of HIV; and the Heinz R. Pagels Award for human rights by the New York Academy of Sciences. They have authored and co-authored numerous peer-reviewed journal articles in prestigious publications including the Lancet Global Health and the British Medical Journal. They have been featured and interviewed by major academic journals such as Nature, Science and the Lancet. They recently co-authored "How Iran Completely and Utterly Botched Its Response to the Coronavirus" in the New York Times.