Public health

Organized crime groups in Asia’s Mekong region have intensified the production and trafficking of highly-addictive methamphetamine, extending the illegal trade into countries such as Australia, Japan and New Zealand, senior drug policy leaders warned on Monday at a United Nations-backed regional conference.  Keep reading ...

Myanmar is ranked 42nd on the list of 171 world countries most vulnerable to natural hazards and is also on the list of 15 countries with least readiness for natural disasters, said Dr Win Myat Aye, Union Minister for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement. Keep reading ...

Malnutrition is leaving Southeast Asia’s children predisposed to obesity and fatal diseases later in life. With the rise of processed foods and less active lifestyles, these health impacts are only going to get worse unless children become the focal point of change. []At the same time, ...

Myanmar will try to reduce malaria outbreaks to 85 percent and mortality rate to 95 percent by 2020, according to the Public Health Department. Two in 1,000 people suffer from malaria but 85 percent could have been reduced compared to 2012. Mortality rate is 0.04 ...

A program to promote scientific eye protection knowledge and to provide free treatment in Lao schools, namely “Lancang-Mekong Bright Journey to Laos”, has been launched in Lao capital Vientiane on Thursday. The program is the second edition of the “Mekong Bright Journey” initiated by China, ...

A navy patrol seized 200kg of compressed marijuana worth about 4 million baht on the bank of the Mekong River in Ban Phaeng district overnight, but the smugglers fled in their long-tail boat. The smugglers were on the riverbank with the marijuana when the patrol arrived, ...

The Asia Pacific Leaders Malaria Alliance (APLMA) and DT Families Foundation have signed an agreement that will make a tangible difference to permanently eliminating malaria in Thailand. []The threat from the mosquito-borne infectious disease has also risen dramatically with the recent emergence of drug-resistant strains in ...

The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) region in south-eastern Bangladesh is neighbouring to the Greater Mekong region, currently flagged for the spread of resistance to the widely used antimalarial drug ‘artemisinin.’ Artemisinin-resistance means that at present the most widely used drug may not work against the ...

In Southeast Asia’s Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), the battle against malaria is advancing at a rapid pace. Between 2012 and 2017, reported malaria cases fell by a staggering 84%, with deaths from the disease down by 93%. In Cambodia, China’s Yunnan Province, the Lao People’s ...

Myanmar has vowed to cooperate with countries in the region to combat transnational distributors of counterfeit medicine, the Myanmar News Agency reported Wednesday. []A workshop will be held on fighting counterfeit medicine in the Greater Mekong Subregion, at which laws, policies and implementation of steps to ...