Social development

Despite muted sentiment in the fourth quarter, the government is highly confident the economy could end this year with an estimated growth of 3.2-3.3%. Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak said accelerated state spending on infrastructure projects and growing tourism will shore up economic growth in ...

After social media users criticised the Ministry of Health for a Zika false alarm over the weekend, the ministry’s Department of Communicable Diseases pointed the finger at the Pasteur Institute for the misinformation. The ministry and the World Health Organization on November 18 issued a ...

Irrigation systems will be able to supply water to about 180,000 hectares of crops this dry season, even though some systems are in need of repair. About 120,000 hectares of the irrigated land will be given over to rice, while other crops will be cultivated ...

As the commission tasked with reviewing hydropower projects along the upper reaches of the Ayeyarwady River submitted its first report to the president this past week, Chinese state media has assured its nation of the ongoing “friendly and cooperative” Sino-Myanmar relationship. The China News article, ...

Vietnamese parents are worried about sending their children to the US to study because of US President-elect Trump’s attitudes toward immigration. Tran Hoang Hoa, a parent in Hanoi, said she and her husband have reconsidered their plan to send the daughter to the US for university. “We ...

Test results are expected on November 18 or tomorrow on a suspected Zika virus case, according to the Department of Public Health. A six-year-old child from Lanma­daw township is the latest to undergo testing after exhibiting symptoms commonly seen with the Zika virus, said Dr Than ...

The Yangon Region government is in the process of arranging low-cost housing for “real squatters” in the commercial capital, Yangon’s security and border affairs minister told the regional legislature on November 16.  He was responding to a question from lawmaker U Kyaw Zeya (NLD; Dagon ...

The Swiss-Lao Hospital Project has provided medical equipment worth about US$1 million for Lao hospitals, aiming to improve conditions for new mothers and newborns around the country. Deputy Director General of the Mother and Newborn Hospital, Dr Sivanesay Chanthavongsouk, said this week the equipment would help ...

Prison reforms currently being considered in Myanmar fall short of meeting international human rights standards, Amnesty International said on November 10. New draft prison legislation represents a significant improvement on laws currently in effect that are more than a century old, but it still fails to ...

The government and international organisations with a presence in Laos have held a pre-consultation on the Sustainable Development Goals in preparation for the 2016 Round Table Implementation Meeting to be held from November 24-25 in Vientiane province. The 2016 Round Table Implementation Meeting SDG Pre-consultation took ...