Social development

Rapid drops in both birth and death rates, combined with a much longer life expectancy, have created a new set of challenges for Vietnam as its inadequate healthcare and welfare systems are failing to catch up with an aging population, officials said.    They warned at a ...

A Muslim publisher and four others have been detained in Insein Prison for attempting to produce a calendar containing quotes from government officials in the 1950s and 1960s using the term “Rohingya”. The calendar contains quotes from speeches by former prime minister U Nu and other ...

The Myanmar government’s chief ceasefire negotiator has indicated that the ethnic armed groups that refused to sign last month’s nationwide ceasefire agreement still have a chance of being included in the process leading up to political dialogue. His remarks indicated a shift in government policy to ...

Local politicians and relief workers in central Shan State have reported two suspected outbreaks of cholera among villagers displaced by the fighting that is focused on two townships, Kye-thi and Mine Shu/Mong Shu. Shan Youth Group activist Ko Sai Oo said he was trying to ...

Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Somsavat Lengsavad, and other senior officials last week visited Nongbok district, Khammuan province for the promotion of agricultural production to ensure food security and a commercial basis. The delegation was warmly welcomed by the provincial authorities, especially the agriculture development promotion company ...

Development partners must hold the government of Laos accountable to commitments it has made at a recurring dialogue on aid strategy to ensure the meetings produce results, an international nongovernmental organization said ahead of a new round of talks scheduled for next week. The government and ...

For over a year,13-year-old Nguyen Thi Anh Duong has used leftover food or trash to make organic fertilisers for growing vegetables in order to reduce pollution. That was what she learned from a three-month on-site training course on climate change for children, organised by the Center ...

Nearly 60 percent of married women in Vietnam have suffered physical or sexual abuse at least once in their life, according to figures released by a new campaign to stop violence against women.   Every one of three women in the world suffer physical or sexual violence, ...

Nearly 690 million of the world’s 2.3 billion children live in areas most exposed to climate change, facing higher rates of death, poverty and disease from global warming, the UN children’s agency said 24 November. Almost 530 million children live in countries hardest-hit by high floods ...

The Thailand Teacher’s Development Association on 23 November demanded Education Minister Dapong Ratanasuwan provide debt refinancing packages, to prevent teachers from becoming swamped with debts which will eventually affect the students. The association proposed the ministry combine formal and informal debts of teachers nationwide, and transfer the whole chunk ...