Social development
Public health
Microinsurance closes gaps in social safety nets
“I was very worried [about the hospital bill] because my father was in [intensive care] for a long time,” said Sheryl Tan, recalling the two painful months leading up to her father’s death last year. “So I was relieved when I heard that MediShield Life ...
Cambodia improves human development index
Cambodia’s improvements on human development are the biggest in the region, but standards of living still lag behind neighboring nations, United Nations Development Program figures have shown. The UNDP’s Human Development Index in 2015, which was published on March 21, showed Cambodians’ health, education and ...
Tougher healthcare oversight ordered
Minister of Health Nguyễn Thị Kim Tiến on March 20 urged inspectors from the central to grassroots levels to ensure that fines are handed out for violations of healthcare service regulations. The total amount of fines last year was only VNĐ7 billion (US$307,000), she said, adding ...
Intensive course seeks to improve hospital management
Management administrators from five major hospitals met in Vientiane recently to learn more about management methods in hopes of improving the country’s healthcare services and human resources development. Hospital management covered in the one-week course taking place under the Swiss Laos Hospital Project included patient ...
Laos calls for UN programmes to match development goals
Laos would like United Nations cooperation programmes to comply with the priorities laid out in the development plans of the countries it is assisting, to help them achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Minister of Foreign Affairs Saleumxay Kommasith stressed this perspective in his remarks at ...
Warning on Vietnamese pork
The public has been warned not to eat pork from Vietnam after an outbreak of a serious disease in pig farms across the border. The Agriculture Ministry’s department of animal health and production is enforcing additional precautionary measures to ensure contaminated pork from Vietnam does ...
Indonesia's Siloam plans to double number of hospitals
Indonesia’s Siloam International Hospitals aims to double the number of its hospitals to 50 by 2019. The country’s largest hospital operator expects to expand into remote areas, including the island of New Guinea, now that a universal health care system has been introduced, allowing low-income ...
Still no warnings on some tobacco packs
Some tobacco producers who sell their products on the local market still refuse to place graphic images and health warnings on cigarette packaging despite a government decree on the matter coming into force several months ago. Mom Kong, the executive director of the Cambodia Movement ...
Experts make case for more people to be vaccinated against dengue
Thai Medical experts have highlighted the efficacy and safety of Thailand’s first dengue vaccine. The dengue vaccine registration last October made Thailand one of 14 countries using a vaccine for dengue. President of the Paediatric Infectious Diseases Society of Asia, Dr Usa Thisyakorn, noted on March ...
Nursing students happy with govt’s deal
The Nursing University Student’s Union got most of what they had demanded from the government after negotiating with the Ministry of Health and Sports last week. NUSU member Ma Kay Khine Tun said 80 percent of what they wanted was agreed by the ministry following ...