Here are some articles of interest for the second week of July.
Virus Suspected in Mysterious Cambodian Outbreak
Cambodia, Vietnam’s neighbor to the west, has recently been afflicted by an unusual outbreak of what appears to be another viral strain of hand, foot and mouth disease. The outbreak has been especially vicious to children, particularly those under three years of age, and the World Health Organization is investigating the matter. Similar outbreaks have occurred in Vietnam and China over the past two years, but the virus in Cambodia seems to be especially lethal this time around.
Indonesia, South Africa, Vietnam Ranked Top Emerging Markets
“Business Perspectives on Emerging Markets 2012 – 2017,” a new report by consulting firm Global Intelligence Alliance rates Vietnam 7th among the top 30 emerging markets. The top 4 markets still go to the BRIC countries, with India coming in first, Brazil in second, China in third, and Russia in 4th. The ranking is based on a survey of over 400 large and mid-sized global companies. We’ll be taking a closer look at the survey results in a future post.
The End of the Vietnamese Miracle
For every article praising Vietnam as the next Asian Tiger, there’s another article advising caution on the country’s economic growth. This article falls in the latter category Writing for Foreign Policy magazine, Geoffrey Cain of Australian National University looks at some of the reasons why Vietnam was able to develop so quickly for a spurt of time, and what’s holding it back from further, sustainable development.
World Population Day: Changing the World is Still a Family Affair
Part of Forbes’ Ashoka series, this article makes a case for the increased need to talk about and fund family planning initiatives. The article points out that “every dollar invested in family planning saves about two dollars in expenses related to antenatal, maternal and newborn healthcare — and saves six dollars in development sectors like housing and public services. The return on investment in women and family planning almost speaks for itself.”
Japan and Vietnam Join Forces to Exploit Rare-Earth Elements
Japan and Vietnam have collaborated to open the Rare Earth Research and Technology Transfer Centre in Hanoi. The Centre will be researching on ways to mine and purify rare minerals, which include “scandium, yttrium and the 15 lanthanides found towards the bottom of the periodic table.” These minerals are used in a variety of high tech gadgets. China is currently the world’s largest rare minerals exporter. We really hope this new centre and earth mining venture will not come at a high cost to Vietnam’s environment.
Photo by Flickr user Dave_B_ (Creative Commons)