Social development
Public health
Something in the water: The dark and deadly secret behind Saigon cheap coffee
A market of industrial chemicals in Ho Chi Minh City is having a new product on sale. And it has quickly become a bestseller. The black liquid, coming in big plastic cans, works magic. Just add a few drops into water and you can turn it ...
Study links deforestation, malaria
New research conducted in Malaysia has drawn a link between deforestation and a rise in a specific strain of malaria often carried by macaques, a link the study’s lead author says could hold true for Cambodia as well. The results of the study, published in Emerging ...
Expert calls for diabetes campaign
Diabetes is harming more people than landmines, a leading expert says. U Tint Swe Latt of the Myanmar Diabetes Association told The Myanmar Times that most amputations of hands and legs resulted from the disease, and not from the landmines that still litter parts of the ...
New group aims to help cut Myanmar road deaths by half
Road deaths need to be cut by 2000 a year or they will exceed regional targets, a new traffic-safety NGO says. ASEAN has called on member countries to reduce road deaths by half over the next five years, and the Myanmar Organisation for Road Safety, which ...
Deaths in childbirth plunge
The number of mothers who died in labour has nearly halved over the past four years, down from 182 fatalities in 2011 to 100 this year, the Ministry of Health’s research commission into maternal mortality revealed on 17 December. The dramatically reduced death rate was largely ...
Myanmar still behind ASEAN peers in UN report
Despite continuing its positive trend and rise through the ranks, Myanmar remains identified as a country with low human development in the annual United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Human Development Report, released on 16 December. The report – titled Work for Human Development – ranks Myanmar ...
Another jade mine disaster hits Hpakant
Another deadly landslide struck the jade mines in Kachin State on 14 December. At least one death has been confirmed, while up to 20 others are feared dead in the slag-heap collapse. The latest spill occurred near Lamaungkone village in Hpakant township, according to locals. Freelance, itinerate ...
In Pa-O zone, no end to opium cultivation
A genuine ceasefire agreement between the government and armed groups is needed to tackle poppy cultivation in the Pa-O Self-Administered Zone, local groups say. Research conducted by the Pa-O Youth Organisation (PYO) has found that opium eradication projects continue to fail because of the taxation of ...
Rate of water accidents still high
Domestic waterways play a critical role in passenger and cargo transport in the Mekong Delta, but the rate of accidents remains at a high level due to lack of attention from local and related authorities. Speaking at a seminar on waterway safety held in the Delta ...
UN urges Myanmar to tackle causes of opium scourge
Opium production in Myanmar has “stabilised” at stubbornly high levels, the United Nations said on 14 December, adding the government must address poverty and end the conflicts which drive farmers to grow illicit poppies. Myanmar, the world’s second largest opium producer after Afghanistan, has struggled to ...
