Social development

Covid-19 has taken an enormous toll on women and girls around the world as a direct consequence of national lockdowns and the sidelining of sexual and reproductive health services. Health systems are struggling to respond to the pandemic. As the crisis rages on, the number of women ...

Thailand is ramping up domestic production of Covid-19 test kits to avoid a potential shortage, as it prepares for a possible second wave of infections after most businesses and services reopened. “Thailand has always received criticism for testing too few, and that was the case at ...

Over 800 health-care workers in southern provinces of Laos are calling on authorities to pay them for extra hours worked this year in hospitals and quarantine centers while trying to control the spread of coronavirus, according to sources in the one-party communist state. However, official sources ...

The Chana Rak Thin Network has renewed its call for the government to scrap a plan to develop a special economic zone (SEZ) in Songkhla’s Chana district ahead of a zoning meeting concerning the proposed project. Activist Kaireya Ramanyah, known as “daughter of the sea”, renewed ...

Vietnam’s Central Highlands reported 17 cases of diphtheria Tuesday, raising the total to 65 in a month, prompting health authorities to take stronger action against the deadly disease. With the new cases, Dak Nong now has 25 cases, Kon Tum 23, Gia Lai 16 while Dak ...

Abortion is an extremely taboo topic in some parts of conservative Southeast Asia. ASEAN member states such as the Philippines and Lao do not permit abortion. Whereas Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand only allow abortion if a medical practitioner deems that continuing the pregnancy poses a danger ...

Laos will establish the National Center for the Quality Inspection of Foodstuff and Beverage to ensure the product is safe for consumption. The National standards Certification and Quality Inspection Center under Laos Ministry of Science and Technology on Tuesday (June 30) signed a memorandum of agreement ...

By the time COVID-19 was announced as a Public Health Emergency at the end of January 2020, the need for more data to understand both the virus and its impacts was clear. Now, more than ever before, data are needed to support decision-making on developing effective solutions that ...

Earlier this month, Maria Ressa, a prominent journalist and outspoken critic of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, was found guilty of cyber libel in another concerning development for media freedom in the country. While the incident was notable on its own terms, it also spotlighted the wider troubles ...

A wave of arrests and a one-month publishing ban on a news site over its investigations into environmental damage signal that Vietnam is suppressing criticism ahead of the country’s Party Congress, press freedom groups said.     On June 12, authorities charged Le Huu Minh Tuan, from ...