Poverty policy and regulation
Food security
Reduction in underweight, stunted children falls short of targets
Reducing the numbers of underweight and stunted children has fallen short of the targets set, despite the efforts undertaken to pursue the targeted plan, a recent government report has showed. The number of underweight children less than five years of age has fallen to 25.5 ...
Carrying a stranger’s child through an uncertain time
Ly Raksmey left her home in the heart of the country’s rice bowl in January and headed to a hospital on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. The 34-year-old stayed there several nights, in a facility that was better and cleaner than any hospital she had ...
SCIEX summarizes 2016 food safety milestones and provides a peek into 2017 trends
The past few years have been tumultuous in the food industry. Unfortunate food safety incidents eroded consumer’s trust in the food supply chain, and we saw food governing bodies step up to implement new regulations and update old practices. The China milk scandal and the ...
Govt, development partners to agree on next ten years cooperation
Localisation of Sustainable Development Goals, effective development partnerships, food and nutrition security, green growth, climate change and disaster response preparedness are cross-sectoral topics of discussion between the government and development partners this year. Experts from the government and development partners’ representative agencies began discussion on ...
Poverty reduction slows

Poverty reduction has slowed a little but the government will strive to reduce the number of poor families from 6.56 percent in 2016 down to 6.09 percent by 2017, the government has told the National Assembly. There are four main reasons for the slower rate ...
Irrigation systems ‘must be improved’

Experts have urged Thailand to develop its irrigation system to ensure food security for the world’s growing population and a precautionary cover against the impact of climate change. More than 1,200 policy-makers, academics, and NGOs from 45 countries gathered in Chiang Mai on November 6 for ...
Chinese group backs poverty eradication efforts
The International Poverty Reduction Centre in China will provide US$5 million this year to assist in eradicating poverty in two villages in Vientiane and Luang Prabang province. The money will be used to alleviate poverty in Xam village of Sangthong district, Vientiane and in Xienglome ...
Experts warn Mekong Delta agriculture, livelihoods face serious threats

Even though the latest El Niño wound down in Vietnam in September, it left in its wake diminished water supplies, risks to people’s health and food security, and a loss of livelihoods. The effects of the severe drought that the El Niño weather phenomenon—exacerbated by climate change—delivered ...
Lao businesses join efforts to fight malnutrition
The European Union Delegation and World Food Programme hosted a business leaders networking cocktail night to establish the Scaling Up Nutrition Business Network at the country level in Laos. Vice-Minister, Ministry of Health and Chair of the National Nutrition Committee, Assoc. Prof. Dr Phouthone Moungpak, European ...
Mother Nature and a hydropower onslaught aren’t the Mekong Delta’s only problems

Early this year, many Mekong Delta farmers fought a losing battle against an epic drought, the worst since 1926. Was the drought a harbinger of climate change? Perhaps it was, but more certainly it was an artifact of El Niño. The same ocean-warming phenomenon that ...