Health

Health • STORY OF THE DAY • May 15, 2020 • 4 min read

Cox's Bazar First Covid-19 case found in Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh

By Shafiqul Alam and Sam Jahan/AFP • May 15, 2020
Bangladeshi officials announced on May 15 that a first person tested positive in the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar. The world's largest refugee settlement and home to one million people living in overcrowded conditions, fears are that it will rapidly spread

Health • STORY OF THE DAY • May 11, 2020 • 10 min read

Tales of the Pandemic My experience as Singapore’s Covid-19 case number 862

By Reuben Lim • May 11, 2020
Unknowingly contracting and spreading Covid-19 to loved ones is a fear many among us carry. So when Singaporean citizen Reuben Lim tested positive in March with virtually no symptoms, the thought he had put his family at risk was a guilt he struggled to process

Health • STORY OF THE DAY • May 08, 2020 • 10 min read

Covid-19 As migrant mental health suffers in Singapore dorms, aid groups rally

By Toh Ee Ming and Kelly Ng • May 08, 2020
As Singapore enters its 5th week of "circuit breaker" mode, the migrant workers quarantined in the city-state's dormitories are suffering under the psychological toll of isolation in squalid conditions and the ever-looming threat of contracting the virus

Health • STORY OF THE DAY • Apr 28, 2020 • 9 min read

Covid-19 As the pandemic takes hold, Singapore’s mental health suffers

By Kelly Ng • Apr 28, 2020
While attempts to stem the spread of Covid-19 has led to the shutdown of virtually all economic and social activity in Singapore, life grinding to a halt in the city-state is giving rise to a different public health issue: poor mental health

Health • Apr 25, 2020 • 4 min read
World Malaria Day

Mekong countries on track to eliminate malaria by 2030

As April 25th marks World Malaria Day, the Globe spoke with Dr Arjen Dondorp about the Mekong nations' steady march towards complete elimination by 2030. However, he warns that if complacency takes hold as Covid-19 takes centre stage, it will spell disaster for the region
By Miriam Deprez

Health • Apr 24, 2020 • 10 min read
World Malaria Day

‘The good news around malaria elimination in Southeast Asia’

With Covid-19 dominating the daily news cycle, it's easy to forget the world's other great killers are continuing business as usual. With April 25 marking World Malaria Day, Leo Braack of the Malaria Consortium explains how the global fight against the disease is progressing, and why Southeast Asia has reason for optimism
By Leo Braack

Health • Apr 23, 2020 • 4 min read
Covid-19

Vietnam relaxes virus restrictions as cases plateau

Vietnam eased social distancing measures on April 23, with experts pointing to the government's decisive response involving mass quarantines and expansive contact tracing for the apparent success in containing Covid-19 in the communist country
By Tran Thi Minh Ha and Alice Philipson

Health • Apr 20, 2020 • 7 min read
Tales of the Pandemic

The quiet before Ramadan in Yogyakarta

Each year, Ramadan witnesses one of the world's great migrations of people as worshippers return home for the Islamic holy month. In Yogyakarta, Indonesia an unease about what people may bring with them is overshadowing this year's celebrations
By Harriet Crisp

Health • Apr 20, 2020 • 6 min read
Tales of the Pandemic

Stuck in Phnom Penh, a final goodbye is taken away

With the Covid-19 death toll reaching into the hundreds-of-thousands, the people behind the figures become easily obscured. Here, the Globe's editor Alastair McCready talks about losing his father this month, unable to speak to or visit him in the south London isolation ward where he passed
By Alastair McCready

Health • Apr 16, 2020 • 9 min read
Water security

‘Covid-19 exposes the great inequality in Cambodian water access’

While Covid-19 has been labelled the 'great leveller' by many due to the diverse nature of those infected, Horn Chanvoitey of Cambodian think-tank Future Forum argues that it exposes one of the Kingdom's great inequalities: access to clean water
By Horn Chanvoitey

Health • Apr 14, 2020 • 5 min read
Covid-19

Saving lives on the frontline, Filipino nurses still face abuse and stigma

While undertaking life-saving work for little pay, frontline healthcare workers in the Philippines say they are still suffering from physical attacks, a lack of protective equipment and are stigmatised in their communities due to virus fears
By Miriam Deprez

Health • Apr 14, 2020 • 10 min read
Wildlife conservation

After the virus, will Southeast Asia’s bushmeat trade finally be stopped?

Bushmeat has been thrust into the spotlight following the likely outbreak of Covid-19 at a wet market in Wuhan. But the trade is not limited to China, with conservationists in Southeast Asia warning of the grave risks involved with the region's ongoing wildlife industry
By Andrew Haffner