Social development
Public health
Proposed cuts in foreign aid could cause malaria resurgence
If U.S. President Donald Trump cuts 44% of the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) funding, a significant proportion of the global budget for malaria control, there would be a worldwide resurgence of malaria, British researchers say. [] To date, PMI has allocated over $5 billion to 19 countries ...
Cheryl Platzman Weinstock
Researchers attack Mekong malaria superbug on multiple fronts
Medical researchers are inching their way across the fringes of five Southeast Asian countries to test a triple combination therapy of antimalarial drugs. Results from the trial, being conducted in rural corners of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, are due by mid-2018, according to ...
MARWAAN MACAN-MARKAR
Fake Pharma thrives on the Mekong
Fake pharmaceuticals are continuing to flood into clinics and hospitals across Asia despite crackdowns by global counterfeiting hubs China and India, with suppliers simply crossing the border to less-regulated Mekong countries. The issue comes to light as global leaders descend on Vietnam for the Asia-Pacific ...
Allan Boyd
From heat stress to malnutrition, climate change is already making us sick
Climate change is already having an impact on our health, by exposing people to dangerous heat waves and more extreme weather, according to a new study. [] The report, called The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change, is meant to track progress on health and climate change ...
Alessandra Potenza
Drug-resistant malaria is spreading, but experts clash over its global risk
In what scientists call a “sinister development,” a malaria parasite resistant to a widely used drug combination is on the march in Southeast Asia. It has rapidly made its way in an arc from western Cambodia, through northeastern Thailand, to southern Laos; now it has ...
Leslie Roberts
Meth trade rises as opium output dips
Record number of methamphetamine drugs has been seized recently raising concern of a new menace as the opium trade – which haunted the country for decades – appears to be on the decline, a senior police official said Sunday. He said the government has been ...
Htoo Thant
Spread of malaria resistance spurs debate on fighting disease
News that resistance to artemisinin combination drugs – the frontline response against malaria – is spreading has spurred debate on whether a new approach is needed to counter the disease and other serious threats to human health. Artemisinin drug-resistant P falciparum C580Y mutant malaria parasites have now ...
Jim Pollard
GMS ministers endorse strategy to boost food safety in Mekong
Agriculture ministers in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) endorsed a five-year strategy and action plan to build a regional food safety system on Friday during a meeting in northwest Cambodia’s Siem Reap province. Keep reading ...
Xinhua News Staff
Midwife crisis: Laos slashes maternal mortality but Trump defunding threatens the progress made
Medical training has reduced maternal and infant mortality rates in rural Laos. US president’s decision to cease funding UN body behind the program, over accusation it backs forced sterilizations in China, could undo all the good work. Keep reading ...
Per Liljas
The rise of health tech entrepreneurs
The newest wave of tech startups in Thailand are health tech entrepreneurs — working on innovative services designed to change the face of healthcare and solve problems traditional caregivers avoid.Keep reading ...