Page 7 - South Asia

Constant decline in maternal, newborn deaths in S Asia: UNICEF official

Maternal and newborn deaths have seen a persistent decline in South Asia amidst their stagnation globally and even an increase in some regions of Latin America in the last five years, a top UNICEF official has said. The decline in maternal mortality in South Asia since 2016 has been driven by good performance in countries like Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Afghanistan and Pakistan, Dr Gagan Gupta, Senior Advisor, Maternal and Newborn Health at UNICEF said here on Wednesday. He, however, said the progress on reduction in neonatal mortality needed a greater push in the region. "India has been one of the exemplar countries with a rapid rise in institutional deliveries, rapid scale-up of newborn care units and several policy changes to improve access of mothers and newborns to quality health services," he told PTI. Gupta has been addressing various sessions at the ongoing 'International Maternal Newborn Health Conference' (IMNHC 2023) here. The four-day conference hosted by the South Afri

Harjinder Kang to lead UK-S Asia trade; named dy envoy for western India

Harjinder Kang has been appointed UK's Trade Commissioner to South Asia and Deputy High Commissioner for Western India to lead the country's overseas effort to promote trade, investment, trade policy

First time since 2014, Amazon omits India business from earnings call

The change is particularly notable given the high rate of growth of the e-commerce industry in South Asia

My responsibility to bring south Asian community to forefront: Priyanka

PC spoke about the merits of long-format content, Long format content is a blessing for the actors because they get to explore the character more and the back stories

Urgent action needed for improving air in South-Asian countries: ICIMOD

Deteriorating air quality and hazardous levels of particulate matter (PM) in several South Asian countries, including India and Nepal, poses a severe risk to human health and must be addressed urgently, a Kathmandu-based intergovernmental knowledge centre warned on Wednesday. The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) is a knowledge and learning centre working on behalf of the people of the Hindu Kush Himalaya region and its eight regional member countries Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan. In a statement released on Wednesday, the organisation pointed to recent data and expressed concern about the rising PM levels. It added that an increase in PM level poses a severe risk to human health, The Kathmandu Post newspaper reported. Doctors blame the worsening air quality as the main culprit for the rising number of patients suffering from respiratory illness, the report said. Air pollution, known to cause various ...

'Declare Bay of Bengal as Zone of Peace to keep geopolitical issues aside'

The Bay of Bengal has witnessed numerous non-traditional security threats, such as human trafficking, narcotics trade, tsunamis and cyclones. However, thus far, it was never a geopolitical hotspots

South Asia gets back to reality

The crises in Sri Lanka and Pakistan raise questions about the relevance and costs of reliance on the alternative financial system provided by China's Belt and Road Initiative

UAE eyes renewables partnerships opportunities with India: Jaber in COP28

UAE will explore all partnership opportunities with India to help the south Asian country's growth and low carbon plans, the UAE's climate envoy and designated president of the COP28 summit

US values long-standing cooperation with Pakistan: State Dept official

The United States values its long-standing relationship with Pakistan, a State Department official said on Wednesday but refrained from making any comment on the ongoing domestic politics of the South Asian country. "We value our long-standing cooperation with Pakistan. We've always viewed a prosperous and democratic Pakistan as critical to our interests. That very much remains unchanged. Whether it has come to an end or not, we don't let propaganda, misinformation, disinformation get in the way of any bilateral relationship," State Department Spokesperson Ned Price told reporters at his daily news conference. "That, of course, includes our valued bilateral relationship with Pakistan. When it comes to various political players inside of Pakistan, we don't have a position on one political candidate or party versus another. We support, as we do around the world, the peaceful upholding of democratic, constitutional, and legal principles," Price said. He, however, refrained from making

Want to see Pakistan in an economically sustainable position, says US

United States wants to see Pakistan in an economically sustainable position, an official spokesperson said, amid reports that the South Asian country's foreign exchange reserves are fast running out

Unicorns in South and SE Asia need to reduce cash burn: S&P Global

They can't continue spending if operational turnarounds are delayed, says report

South Asians 15 times more likely die from climate change impact: Guterres

'South Asia is one of the world's global climate crisis hotspots -- in which people are 15 times more likely to die from climate impacts than elsewhere'

Melting glaciers of Tibet may impact regional security in S Asia: Report

Melting glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau can result in excess water in some places and shortages in others, says a report in Hamrakura

S Asian black carbon aerosols increase glacial mass loss in Tibet: Study

Black carbon aerosols have indirectly affected the mass gain of the Tibetan Plateau glaciers by changing long-range water vapour transport from the South Asian monsoon region, a study has found. The South Asia region adjacent to the Tibetan Plateau has among the highest levels of black carbon emission in the world, the researchers said. Black carbon aerosols are produced by the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and biomass, and are characterised by strong light absorption. Many studies have emphasised black carbon aerosols from South Asia can be transported across the Himalayas to the inland region of the Tibetan Plateau. Researchers noted that black carbon deposition in snow reduces the albedo of surfaces -- a measure of how much of Sun's radiations are reflected -- which may accelerate the melting of glaciers and snow cover, thus changing the hydrological process and water resources in the region. The study, published in Nature Communications, found that since the 21st centu

Inflation to remain high, between 21-23%: Pakistan's Finance Ministry

Pakistan's Ministry of Finance has forecast that country's inflation will remain high, between 21 to 23% as the south Asian nation's fiscal deficit widened by more than 115% between July and October

South Asian migrant workers wary of life after FIFA World Cup in Qatar

Workers from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka helped build many of Qatar's eight stadiums, and to fill them for the matches

India needs to change course to curb air pollution: World Bank study

Terming air pollution as a public health crisis for South Asia, the report highlights that this crisis not only imposes high economic costs but also cause nearly 2 million premature deaths each year

Singapore airport reconnects with South Asian cities, adds Pune to network

Singapore's Changi Airport has re-established its link to all South Asian cities to the pre-pandemic level and added Pune to its network, reporting a strong rebound in passenger traffic, according to a media report on Sunday. Up to 150,000 passengers are passing through Changi Airport daily, with about a million each week, or about 75 per cent of the average weekly passenger pre-pandemic, The Straits Times newspaper quoted Transport Minister S Iswaran. The airport is said to see a strong rebound in passenger traffic as the number of passengers and flight movements steadily climbed over the months. Australia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand were the top traffic markets in the first 10 months when the airport handled 23.6 million passengers, representing 42 per cent of its pre-Covid-19 traffic, The Straits Times reported. The strongest passenger traffic recovery came from North America, South Asia, and Europe. Despite the uptick, the airport is well-equipped to handle the .

Dubai-based Coral Energy turns focus to Asia, halts trade in Russian crude

he trading house emerged as one of the key suppliers of Russian crudes to Asia after some western entities shunned purchase of Russian oil

Type 2 diabetes linked with gestational diabetes in S Asian women: Study

Women of South Asian origin may be more likely to experience gestational diabetes due to the same complex genetics that increases their chance of acquiring type 2 diabetes, according to a study