Social development

The Chinese government has provided a grant of more than 21 billion kip to build a new nine-storey building at the 103 Hospital in Vientiane, which is operated by the Lao Ministry of National Defence. A groundbreaking ceremony for the project took place on 29 May, ...

Some 100 people from five villages in Oddar Meanchey’s Chongkal district, Cambodia protested over the weekend against a hydropower dam project built by Chinese firm Sinohydro, claiming they have yet to be compensated for their eventual displacement when the flood gates close in the next ...

The Ministry of Health in Myanmar is direly short on doctors, and a new plan to recruit 1000 more will barely begin to staunch the gap, according to government officials. As part of its 100-day priority agenda, the ministry has put out a call for 1000 ...

The young girl in Sunrise Cambodia’s recent fundraising campaign has been labelled a “sex worker” in glossy typeface. Her face is smeared with dirt. She is accompanied by a “trafficked kid” and a “homeless teen” on the page.  “Just because it raises money, it doesn’t ...

The government is pursuing its “Thailand 4.0” project by utilising innovative technology to improve quality of life, productivity and efficiency for all businesses in the nation. The government will also come out with new laws this year related to digitisation, while the Information and Communications Technology Ministry ...

The Yangon divisional government plans to relocate squatters and provide them with temporary housing, said Yangon Chief Minister Phyo Min Thein on 25 May at a press conference. He warned against trespassing and living on vacant, private or government land from 25 May onward, and said that people ...

People smoking tobacco in offices, restaurants and other public spaces will have to indulge their habit in clearly demarcated smoking areas or both the smoker and establishment owner will face fines, Cambodia’s Ministry of Health announced. Following the government’s approval in March of a sub-decree banning ...

Switzerland has agreed to provide a grant of US$16 million, while the World Bank has expressed its intention to offer a low interest loan of US$30 million to fight poverty in Laos. If secured, the funds will be used to finance Phase III of the Poverty ...

Malnutrition costs the Cambodian economy an estimated $266 million each year, according to a new report, which urged the government to invest more in tackling the problem. Suboptimal breastfeeding and malnutrition in mothers were also factors, accounting for $36.9 million, which Wieringa said pointed to an ...

The World Wide Fund for Nature reported that suspended sediment load in the Mekong Delta declined from 160 million tons in 1992 to 75 million tons in 2014 due to the construction of hydropower dams and reservoirs on the mainstream and branches of Mekong River. It noted that sand ...