Showing 1 - 10 of 33
Unite to solve neglected diseases
Oped, Muhammad Radzi Abu Hassan, Published on 29/04/2025
» The successful collaboration between the health ministries of Malaysia and Thailand, industry partners in Egypt and Malaysia, and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) to bring a new hepatitis C antiviral drug -- ravidasvir -- to market in 2022 was an important milestone. For years, a 12-week course of treatment using sofosbuvir cost between $70,000 (2.34 million baht) and $80,000, putting it out of reach for many in the Global South. But ravidasvir -- a safe and effective alternative when combined with sofosbuvir -- costs far less, averaging less than $500 per course.
Time to let Afghan women lead
News, Palwasha Hassan & Shafiqa Khpalwak, Published on 10/03/2025
» This year's International Women's Day is marked by a sense of foreboding, even despair. Progress on women's rights and representation is stalling: the number of women in parliaments grew last year at the lowest rate in a generation, and the global financing gap for gender initiatives remains wide. At a time of widespread democratic backsliding -- and with US President Donald Trump freezing foreign aid, including for gender initiatives -- the prospects for improvement appear bleak.
Malaysia's Asean chair with a twist
Oped, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 24/12/2024
» Malaysia's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has displayed his political astuteness by appointing former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra to his advisory team. The decision reflects his understanding of regional traits and dynamics, where former leaders and influential figures can hold sway over multifaceted regional outlooks.
With Israel and Iran it's tit for tat for tit for tat...
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 31/10/2024
» It's more like a courtship ritual between exotic birds than a 21st-century war. First the Israelis assassinate Revolutionary Guard generals in an Iranian embassy on foreign soil. Tag. You're it.
Cues from Iran on who to vote for
News, Marc Champion, Published on 03/07/2024
» The opposition just won a first round of elections, forcing a runoff in which everything depends on where third-party votes go. No, not in France -- in Iran. You could be forgiven for missing it amid all the excitement over the advance of the French hard right, President Joe Biden's car crash debate in the US and the coming immolation of the UK's Conservative Party. Yet Iran's experience is worth attention, not least as a reminder of what to vote for and why. Iran, to recap, is having a snap contest to replace President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a May helicopter crash. Raisi was also being groomed to succeed the 85-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as supreme leader, the unelected post that -- as the title suggests -- matters most in the Islamic Republic.
Time for global climate solidarity
Oped, Saber Hossain Chowdhury & Hassan Damluji, Published on 03/11/2023
» The world is barrelling down a perilous path. Or, as United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres put it, "We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator." But global warming is not just another political issue: reducing greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions is an existential imperative that must not be ignored.
Sudan: Death on the Nile and contagion risk
Oped, John J Metzler, Published on 05/05/2023
» There's blood in the Nile. The mighty river separating Sudan's capital city Khartoum has seen fighting erupt between two rival factions of the army. What could have been a quick internal flash-up between the main military factions, which have tenuously ruled this vast land since the 2021 military coup, has morphed into a bitter fight for power on the streets of the capital. More than 500 civilians have been killed in the crossfire, and foreign diplomatic, humanitarian workers and business people have been trying to flee the country.
UN slams Xinjiang rights abuses
Oped, John J Metzler, Published on 08/11/2022
» A high-level UN panel on Oct 26 slammed Beijing's ongoing and egregious human rights abuses in the western Xinjiang regions of the People's Republic. China's human rights violations have been committed through the use of "severe and undue restrictions" that are "characterised by a discriminatory component, as the underlying acts often directly or indirectly affect Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim communities".
Upcoming AMM facing uphill tasks
Oped, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 26/07/2022
» The Asean Foreign Ministerial Meeting (AMM) next week will be a test of its centrality and relevancy as never seen before. The annual meeting has to confront sensitive new and divisive issues that will require the 55-year-old bloc's collective wisdom, commitment and foresight.
Iran nukes: End of the road for an agreement
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 20/07/2022
» About six weeks ago Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), warned that the attempt to revive the 2015 deal that restricted Iran's ability to enrich uranium was on the brink of collapse. Three or four weeks more without an agreement, he said, would deal the talks a "fatal blow".