Social development
Public health
Yangon monitoring meningitis outbreak after 8-year-old’s death
Health officials have placed Yangon Region on high alert as a deadly meningitis outbreak appears to have spread from Mandalay. The Department of Public Health is monitoring all 44 townships following the death on March 18 of an 8-year-old girl in South Dagon township. Meningococcal meningitis ...
Mekong Basin nations advised to step up disease surveillance
The six Mekong Basin countries convened in Vientiane on 23 March to discuss ways to increase their cooperation in disease surveillance, especially in border areas, to curb the spread of infectious diseases. Representatives from Cambodia, China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam attended the Mekong Basin Disease ...
Vaccine against dengue '100% effective' in test
An experimental vaccine against dengue, the world’s most common mosquito-borne virus, was 100% effective in early trials in Miami, and could speed up the pace of a vaccine against Zika, researchers said on 16 March. Dengue, which is in the same family of flaviviruses as Zika ...
Meningococcal outbreak claims four lives
Health authorities are on high alert following a recent meningococcal meningitis outbreak that has claimed the lives of four children in Mandalay Region of Myanmar. Two children in a serious condition are being treated for the bacterial infection at Mandalay General Hospital, while five more children ...
Minister dismisses lawmaker’s HIV concerns
Cambodia’s Health Minister Mam Bunheng said on 9 March that he was unconcerned by a letter sent to him by the head of the National Assembly’s health commission last month concerning a spate of recently discovered HIV cases in Kandal province. Keep reading ...
Hanoi air pollution ‘hazardous’
Hanoi air pollution is at hazardous levels, threatening the health of those with respiratory diseases and endangering public health in general, according to Air Quality Index statistics.The index is published on the website and provides real time air quality and pollution monitoring of cities worldwide. Keep ...
Laos reports local transmission of Zika virus: WHO
Laos is the latest country to report a local transmission of Zika virus, according to the World Health Organization, as fears mount over the mosquito-borne illness that has been linked to birth defects. Asia has seen only a sprinkling of cases of the virus, but a ...
WHO warns of fake drugs
Beware of fake hepatitis medication. The World Health Organization has warned hepatitis C patients that counterfeit medications are being sold in Myanmar. Drugs branded as “Ledso” and “Dakavir” are fakes, according to an alert put out by the WHO. Keep reading ...
In fight against malaria, NGO explores clothes that bite back
Health specialists met in Yangon on 3 March to discuss insect-fighting clothes as a way of eliminating malaria in Myanmar. NGO Malaria Consortium has been testing its insect-treated arsenal with a local at-risk group: rubber tappers in Thanbyuzayat who work in plantations at night when infective mosquitoes ...
NIN recommends milk, milk product rations
Vietnam’s National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) on 2 March released a recommendation on the use of milk and milk products in Vietnam. “This recommendation aims to improve the community’s awareness of the nutrient value of milk, the current reality of calcium deficiency and ways to better use milk ...
