Social development

A representative committee of the Ministry of Health and the WHO took part in the World Breastfeeding Week celebrations in Vientiane on August 21, which is celebrated every year in August. The Ministry of Health and the WHO are encouraging exclusive breastfeeding and improving babies’ ...

The National Social Security Fund on August 18 said it’s gearing up to sign agreements with about 200 provincial referral hospitals and health centres to provide coverage to a wave of recently insured workers in the country. Ouk Samvithyea, executive director of the NSSF, said a workshop ...

Xekong province is among the poorest in Laos, with an infant mortality rate of 70 per 1,000 live births and a maternal mortality ratio of 357 per 100,000 live births, according to 2015 statistics from the provincial health office. Xekong province was one of five provinces-targeted ...

The US Agency for International Development has awarded a five-year grant to the Center for Promotion of Quality of Life in Vietnam to strengthen community-led approaches to HIV prevention, care and treatment.The USAID Enhanced Community HIV Link – Southern project, implemented in Ho Chi Minh City, ...

Fishermen in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta have been complaining about lower water levels and falling catches with experts blaming China’s construction of hydropower projects on the upper Mekong River. According to the experts, the dams have blocked fish from moving downstream and trapped sediment needed to enrich ...

Building more dams along the Mekong River will destroy the livelihoods of millions of people, according to a report commissioned by the Vietnamese government. It also says plans to construct new dams will damage crops with salt water intrusion, particularly in the south where the Mekong ...

Cambodia’s justice system often fails to support children who are victims of and witnesses to crime, many of whom are so terrified to appear in court that they’re unable to give testimony, children’s rights experts said on August 16. “When children are abused, they often respond ...

For the next two years, Brunei will assume the chairmanship within ASEAN for the Senior Officials Meeting on Health Development and the ASEAN Health Ministers Meeting. With the official handing over of the chairmanship from Vietnam to Brunei at the 11th Senior Officials Meeting on Health ...

Ensuring better coordination was the objective of an August 11 meeting between government officials and civil society groups in Magwe Region. The goal was to strengthen the network of civil society groups to ensure the proper distribution of aid supplies for flood victims while avoiding ...

Over 5,000 official delegates and business leaders, of whom 200 are foreign media personnel, will attend and cover the 28th and 29th ASEAN summits to be held back-to-back in Vientiane early next month. The Ministry of Foreign Affair’s Press Department reported on August 12 that more than ...