Showing 1 - 5 of 5
AI as Asia's new growth engine?
Oped, Lee Jong-wha, Published on 27/11/2025
» Two decades after globalisation fuelled a global economic boom, growth has shifted onto a more subdued path, where it is likely to remain for the foreseeable future. Beyond the immediate shock of fragmenting trade and investment ties -- a result of rising geopolitical tensions, particularly between the United States and China -- lie structural headwinds, including population ageing, stagnant productivity, and the growing costs of inequality and natural disaster. These challenges strike at the heart of Asia's growth model.
High rates hurt public healthcare
Oped, Serah Makka and Rosemary Mburu, Published on 14/07/2025
» May's 78th World Health Assembly (WHA) -- the annual meeting of the World Health Organization's member states -- ended on a self-congratulatory note. From an agreement on pandemic preparedness to increases in assessed contributions to the WHO, there were plenty of achievements to tout. But there was an elephant in the room, hiding behind a banner reading "One World for Health": the high borrowing costs faced by African countries.
South Korea is facing a triple challenge
Oped, Lee Jong-wha, Published on 30/05/2025
» Few countries have transformed themselves as dramatically as South Korea has over the last half-century. A poor, authoritarian country with annual per capita income of less than US$400 (13,000 baht) has become a vibrant and prosperous democracy, with direct presidential elections, peaceful transfers of power, and a per capita income of more than $33,000.
Looking ahead toward Apec 2022
Oped, Natapanu Nopakun, Published on 18/01/2022
» As the new year begins, it is high time to look back at the past year's achievements and, at the same time, to look ahead towards the next. If the Covid-19 pandemic which began in late 2019 and early 2020 took the world by surprise, and 2021 proved to be another year of daunting challenges, 2022 could see countries around the world continue to struggle, trying to open despite the emergence of new variants of the coronavirus, like the current Omicron.
Leprosy mustn't be forgotten amid Covid crisis
Oped, Yohei Sasakawa, Published on 01/06/2021
» The 74th World Health Assembly (WHA) takes place from May 24 to June 1. This year's gathering is likely to be dominated by Covid-19, but here I want to talk about a different disease -- leprosy -- and a resolution that was adopted at the WHA exactly 30 years ago. This resolution called for the elimination of leprosy as a public health problem at the global level by the year 2000, with elimination defined as a prevalence rate of less than one case per 10,000 population. It was a landmark resolution for the time.