Health

Health • STORY OF THE DAY • Aug 26, 2021 • 4 min read

Covid-19 Scars of Papua conflict weigh on Indonesia’s vaccine drive

By Andrea Christiani and Haeril Halim/AFP • Aug 26, 2021
Decades of conflict, racism and human rights abuses are fuelling Covid conspiracy theories in Papua at a time when their breakaway region is facing a renewed threat from the pandemic

Health • STORY OF THE DAY • Aug 24, 2021 • 2 min read

Drugs Thailand takes kratom off illegal drug list

By Agence France-Presse • Aug 24, 2021
Thailand decriminalised kratom, a tropical leaf long used for herbal remedy, but some health regulators around the world have criticised it as potentially unsafe

Health • STORY OF THE DAY • Aug 23, 2021 • 11 min read

Covid-19 On the virus frontlines, Malaysia’s contract doctors fight for their rights

By Kymberley Chu • Aug 23, 2021
Malaysian contract doctors have experienced financial instability and burnout since 2016. Now, with life on the frontlines of the country’s escalating Covid-19 outbreak pushing many to the brink, they are pushing for unionisation through the Hartal Strike

Health • STORY OF THE DAY • Aug 20, 2021 • 6 min read

Analysis The unfolding climate change crisis and mosquito-borne diseases

By Dr Sarthak Das • Aug 20, 2021
Following the IPCC's landmark report earlier this month warning of an impending climate catastrophe, on World Mosquito Day, Dr Sarthak Das warns of the potential for climate change to reverse much of the progress made in eliminating mosquito-borne diseases

Health • Aug 16, 2021 • 13 min read
Reproductive health

Liberal laws and fetus cemeteries: Vietnam’s conflicted abortion stance

Despite liberal laws and among the highest abortion rates in the world, stigma towards the practice is pervasive in Vietnam. Representing a hard-line faction of anti-abortion sentiment, groups across the country collect fetal remains from clinics for burial
By Govi Snell • Aug 16, 2021

Health • Aug 13, 2021 • 4 min read
Covid-19

In Indonesia, parents grieve over child Covid victims

The Southeast Asian nation has been hit by its worst Covid-19 surge yet as the ultra-infectious Delta variant sent deaths skyrocketing and left a trail of devastated parents in its wake
By Dessy Sagita and Haeril Halim/AFP • Aug 13, 2021

Health • Aug 05, 2021 • 9 min read
Covid-19

Care groups adapt as Singapore’s elders survive amid ‘new normal’

Social isolation among the elderly was already a growing concern within fast-modernising Singapore prior to the pandemic. Now, with social distancing measures in place and health concerns abounding, social service groups must be creative to reach the city-state's atomised elders
By Weilee Yap • Aug 05, 2021

Health • Jul 29, 2021 • 8 min read
Opinion

Amid the pandemic, barriers to sexual health services for Cambodian women rise

As Cambodia reimposes lockdown in several provinces to contain the spread of Covid-19, women across the Kingdom once again face interruptions to vital sexual health services. This is what occurred during April’s lockdown, with MSI Reproductive Choices witnessing the dire effects
By Ella Nwaokolo • Jul 29, 2021

Health • Jul 16, 2021 • 3 min read
Myanmar coup

Inside a Myanmar clinic fighting a new Covid surge

Covid-19 infections are soaring in Myanmar, with over 4000 cases recorded on Thursday July 15 as the military junta hoards medical supplies. In one northwestern town, the crisis is especially bad
By Agence France-Presse • Jul 16, 2021

Health • Jul 06, 2021 • 3 min read
Covid-19

Indonesia imports oxygen as hospitals battered by Covid-19

The Indonesian government announced that it is sourcing emergency oxygen for Covid-19 patients from Singapore on Tuesday July 6, as the country reports a record 728 deaths and hospitals crumble under the weight of its deadliest wave yet
By Agence France-Presse • Jul 06, 2021

Health • Jul 01, 2021 • 4 min read
Covid-19

Tourists land in no-quarantine Phuket despite Thailand Covid-19 surge

Tourist hotspot Phuket welcomed its first set of international travellers on Thursday July 1 as part of Thailand's quarantine-free project, despite the country battling its worst Covid-19 outbreak
By Pathom Sandwongwanich and Jonathan Klein/AFP • Jul 01, 2021