Pakistan's ailing health service
Pakistan’s health sector is ailing; it lags behind 12 countries in the region with similar cultural and economic profiles, according to the medical journal The Lancet. Corruption, the lack of a national health insurance system, and low public spending all contribute to the problem, manifest in indicators such as the country's appalling child and maternal death rates.Full report

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Marshalling smartphones, gravediggers to fight dengue in Pakistan

 LAHORE, 10 May 2013 (IRIN) - On the frontline in the fight against dengue fever in Lahore, Pakistan’s second largest city, the authorities have a sharp eye for spare car tyres. full report

Beating wild weather in Sri Lanka

 COLOMBO, 9 May 2013 (IRIN) - Planners in Sri Lanka should do more to mitigate the effects of extreme weather in order to help those most likely to be affected, experts say. full report

Calamity planning - Bangladesh role-plays quake response

 DHAKA, 7 May 2013 (IRIN) - As Bangladesh armed forces retrieve bodies from the country’s worst ever industrial disaster, a garment factory collapse killing over 700, contingency planning is taking place for something worse - a long-predicted earthquake striking the mega-capital of Dhaka. full report

Analysis: “Wake-up call” for Bangladesh’s building industry

 DHAKA, 6 May 2013 (IRIN) - Corpses are still being recovered from Bangladesh’s worst industrial disaster ever - a factory building collapse on 24 April that killed at least 600 workers near the capital. Government experts are scrambling to prevent a repeat. full report

Analysis: Southeast Asia’s human trafficking conundrum

 JAKARTA, 6 May 2013 (IRIN) - Tens of thousands of people are vulnerable to being trafficked in Southeast Asia, with governments struggling to understand and respond collectively to the problem, say experts and government officials. full report

Activists call for review of Myanmar’s citizenship law

 BANGKOK, 3 May 2013 (IRIN) - Human rights groups are calling for a review of Myanmar's citizenship law, which has left more than 1.2 million people stateless nationwide, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). full report