Public health

Many countries in developing Asia are establishing Special Economic Zones (SEZs) to offer an attractive investment climate for the private sector and to foster industrial and economic development outside of major cities. Across the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) there are over 500 SEZs and industrial ...

A new study in the Lancet Infectious Diseasesindicates that resistance to the first-line treatment for malaria in Southeast Asia began to emerge several years before it was first detected and is linked to an aggressive strain that has spread rapidly across the region. Experts say the ...

Tuberculosis (TB), an infectious disease affecting the lungs and causing fever, hemoptysis, night sweats, and weight loss, has ravaged Southeast Asia for decades. According to the World Health Organization, the region contains one third of the world’s TB cases. TB has threatened Vietnam, where HIV ...

In December 2017, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) released its latest report on opium production in Myanmar and, at face value, the news was good. Since 2015, the area of cultivated opium poppy in Myanmar’s Shan and Kachin states has decreased ...

Thai Security forces seized 11.1 million methamphetamine tablets and arrested a Lao national at a Mekong River pier in Tha Uthen district of Nakhon Phanom province Monday night. Acting on a tip-off that a huge drug haul was to be smuggled across the Mekong River ...

A new study of drug resistance in the parasite responsible for roughly half of all malaria cases worldwide has identified more than 80 genes that contribute to resistance, some of which could provide important information for drug development, researchers say.[]In recent years, however, a strain ...

The Global Fund is now driving malaria-elimination programmes to add momentum to eradicating the disease in the Greater Mekong Sub-region, including Myanmar, by the end of 2030.Keep reading ...

Drug resistance is still the main concern for health authorities in Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.Yesterday, representatives from these countries called for accelerated action to eliminate malaria in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) by the year 2030.The call comes amid concern over resistance ...

Myanmar is striving for becoming a malaria-free country by 2030 and a campaign for the target is underway under the sponsorship of Asia-Pacific Malaria Elimination Network, the official Global New Light of Myanmar reported Wednesday.[]Meanwhile, a health ministers meeting of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) ...

Mental health disorders can affect physical and psychological behaviors. The people of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) have a high risk of mental health disorders, such as depression, stress, and substance abuse because the people in this region are sometimes trafficked for forced sex work ...