(Extract)

Wheat and rice prices mostly fall around the region

Strong production generally kept domestic prices around the region stable or drove them slightly down for wheat, wheat flour and rice, except in India and Myanmar where government procurement programmes pushed prices higher. Overall, however, prices were mostly higher than at the same time last year, according to FAO’s Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS).

(Extract)

Strong biosecurity measures needed to contain bird flu Implementing strong biosecurity measures coupled with good hygiene are required to contain the spread of the H7N9 strain of avian influenza virus, Hiroyuki Konuma, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific told a press conference in Bangkok on April 11. The virus had infected 82 people and killed 17 in China by April 19.

Executive Summary

CARE has provided water+ services to developing countries for over 55 years and is currently working on more than 180 such projects in over 40 countries. Throughout the years CARE has focused on both emergency response and long-term development; recently the organization has emphasized building the capacity of local institutions, strengthening community-led water resource management (WRM) and total sanitation, and adopting an integrated water resource management (IWRM) approach.

PROGRESS AGAINST OUR THEORY OF CHANGE

Scrap metal collection can be a lucrative activity in Vietnam. It is also an extremely dangerous one.
Tran Van Dieu lives in Tan Duc 1, in a mountainous area of Quang Binh province. People here survive on farming and forestry, but farmland is limited and poverty is widespread, so, using detectors they make themselves, some villagers hunt for metal to sell to scrapyards.

Normally what they find is harmless, but there’s always the risk it could be a deadly bomb.

This report covers the period 1 January 2012 to 31 December 2012

This report covers the period 1 January 2012 to 31 December 2012

Strong winds and heavy rain on 23/24 April hit the provinces of Tuyen Quang and Lao Cai, northern Vietnam, as well as the province of Ha Tinh, central Vietnam.

According to local media, as of 25 April, in Ha Tinh, there have been 1 death and 2 injuries attributed to the severe weather, and 1000 houses and 100 hectares of crop damaged.

As of 26 April, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment reports 5 houses collapsed and over 600 buildings and hundreds of hectares of crops damaged in Lao Cai province

MANILA, 24 April 2013 -On World Malaria Day, 25 April, the World Health Organization (WHO) in the Western Pacific urges Member States to remain steadfast in the fight against malaria to preserve the gains made and eliminate malaria as a public health threat.

The theme for World Malaria Day this year is “Invest in the future. Defeat malaria.” because progress towards malaria control or elimination must be maintained and intensified.

VGP – Viet Nam lost a total of VND 74 trillion to natural disasters in the 2008-2012 period, up over VND19.3 trillion from the previous five years.

Property losses caused by natural calamities averagely accounted for 1.48% of GDP per year. The figure was 2.47% in 2009 and 0.94% in 2011.

The loss of lives has dropped sharply over the past years. However, material costs from natural disasters were on the rise, said a member of the National Committee on Natural Disaster Prevention.