Dr Elliot Dolan-evans1
1Monash University, Australia
Biography:
Elliot Dolan-Evans is a lecturer in International Political Economy and Law at Monash University and RMIT. His research concerns the political economy of peacebuilding, with a special focus on the under-investigated role of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
Abstract:
Ukraine was one of the hardest hit European countries of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even prior to this highly publicised pandemic, Ukraine was (and still is) severely affected by another viral catastrophe: a HIV epidemic. The beleaguered country has fought both viral challenges as the War in Donbas morphed into a full-fledged Russian Invasion in 2022. Deploying an everyday feminist political economy, this paper argues that Ukraine’s response to both the HIV and COVID-19 challenges during active war has been muted due to simultaneous, radical economic restructuring of the Ukrainian healthcare system. Most literature looks at either Ukraine’s HIV epidemic or COVID-19 pandemic as isolated healthcare challenges, made more difficult during active conflict, but has often ignored the interrelated connections between Ukraine’s continued spread of HIV and its failure to confront COVID-19, which are mediated by healthcare reform. This paper contributes to the nascent literature on economic reform during active war and demonstrates the inherent relations between healthcare and the everyday political economy, highlighting how Ukraine’s conflict-affected and displaced population have suffered from viral outbreaks that have thrived in the petri dish of concurrent war and restructuring.