Category: Health

VIENTIANE –The Ministry of Planning and Investment and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today presented WFP’s new Country Strategic Plan 2022-2026 to Government and partners. With it, WFP recommits its support to the Government of Lao PDR in improving food security, reducing malnutrition and ensuring sustainable food systems for all, as the country prepares to graduate from Least Developed Country status.

“Today is a special and important event. The Government of Lao PDR with top management from ministries, together with WFP’s Country Director jointly planned and organised this launch of WFP’s new Country Strategic Plan 2022-2026,” said Sthabandith Insisiengmay, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment.

The plan contributes to several outcomes of Lao PDR’s 9th National Socio-Economic Development Plan, the UN’s Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework, and sectoral strategies such as the National Nutrition Strategy.

“The pivotal role of WFP is in creating enabling circumstances for the Government of Lao PDR. We are emphasising transition strategies for the handover of activities to the Government and communities, while aligning our interventions with our sister agencies, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), as well as UNICEF and other donors and partners,” said WFP Country Director and Representative Jan Delbaere.

The four pillars of the Country Strategic Plan evolve around WFP’s value proposition for the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 2: Zero Hunger, by expanding and strengthening the Government’s school meals programme, supporting the prevention of malnutrition, working to enhance community resilience and ensure food security, as well as supporting the Government’s emergency response efforts.

WFP, the world’s largest humanitarian organisation, has provided support to the people of Lao since 1975. In 2000, WFP established a permanent presence in the country providing flood relief assistance, and in 2012 shifted to a development portfolio. The organisation employs over 170 staff around Laos, with presence in one fourth of all villages across 16 provinces of the country. WFP’s long-term commitment is to gradually transfer all programmes to the Government and communities as independently owned, managed and implemented food and nutrition security solutions.

Despite significant progress, Laos still ranks 78th out of 116 countries on the Global Hunger Index. Stunting continues to affect one in three children and 20 percent of the population faces food insecurity during the lean season. Anaemia rates remain high, while wasting rates increased between 2011 and 2017. In addition, the number of obese and overweight people is increasing. Laos is vulnerable to the effects of climate change, with natural disasters increasing in frequency and scale, and the COVID-19 crisis further weakening people’s resilience against recurrent shocks.

Source: World Health Organization

Some 329 new Covid-19 cases and three new deaths attributed to Covid-19 have been reported over the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 133,853, including 5,568 active cases and 547 deaths, according to the National Taskforce Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control.

Yesterday witnessed 570 Covid-19 patients discharged from hospitals nationwide, Director General of the Department of Communicable Diseases Control, Ministry of Health, Dr Rattanaxay Phetsouvanh told a press conference this morning.

Of the new confirmed cases, 319 were classified as domestic infections and ten as imported cases.

The domestic infections included 83 in Xieng Khuang, 41 in Vientiane, 33 in Borikhamxay and 32 in Xaysomboun.

Meanwhile, 29 were reported in Huaphan, 28 in Attapeu, 14 in Xayaboury and nine in Khammuan.

Source: Lao News Agency

Some 579 new Covid-19 cases and four new deaths have been reported nationwide over the previous 24 hours, according to the National Taskforce Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control.

With the latest infections, the total of Covid-19 cases has reached 131,432 including 7,258 active cases and 533 deaths.

The new daily transmissions included 172 in Vientiane, 78 in Borikhamxay, 73 in Xieng Khuang, and 39 in Khammuan.

Some 495 Covid-19 patients were discharged from hospitals nationwide yesterday.

Source: Lao News Agency

Imagine a girl having no record of her existence. How will she attend school, receive health care, travel, vote, apply for a job, or inherit a property? Civil registration provides a fundamental right to services, to protection and well-being. Yet, more than half of women and girls in Laos are living with no legal identity (MOHA, 2018).

Worldwide, according to the World Bank (2018), an estimated 1 billion people cannot officially prove their identity; 40% of them are below 18 years old. In the Lao PDR, only 43% of the total population has their births registered, (MOHA, 2018). For people to count, they must first be counted, and that’s what a Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) system does by adopting a life-course approach through recording the details of all major life events including births, marriages, divorces and deaths.

Birth registration is the first step in securing legal identity and accessing fundamental rights like education, healthcare, employment, and social protection. As the sole continuous source of population data, it provides the foundation for human rights.

Civil registration also provides an overall picture of the population and produces accurate and timely statistics of the demographic and health of the population. The vital statistics generated from registration records are essential for policy development in health, education, employment, economic planning, social protection, and other sectors.

Twelve of the 17 SDGs’ and 67 of the 230 SDG indicators can be measured from a well functioning CRVS system. The CRVS data particularly helps advance SDG 5, “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.” CRVS contributes to the monitoring of child marriage, adolescent pregnancy, and preventable maternal deaths, which in turn enhances monitoring of the Lao government’s ICPD25 commitments – a critical stepping stone to realizing SDGs.

In the Lao PDR, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MOHA) has been improving the registration of vital events to ensure that everyone is counted. The Lao PDR joined other countries in the region in adopting the Ministerial Declaration to ‘Get Everyone in the Picture’ in Asia and the Pacific and established the 2016—2025 CRVS strategy.

UNFPA supported the preparation of Lao delegates to join the second ministerial conference held in November 2021. Recently, MOHA and the Lao Statistic Bureau (LSB) started to digitalize the paper-based Civil registrations as part of system strengthening with support from the World Bank.

“By the end of CRVS decade (2015-2024), the government would have strengthened the registration system, applied multisectoral coordination approach and increased public awareness especially in rural and remote areas,” said Ms. Thirakha Chanthalanouvong, Director General of the Social Statistics Department, Lao Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Apart from the system strengthening, public awareness is another essential component that can lead to the completeness of civil registration. “People do not understand the importance of civil registration and/or are not aware of it. There is a lack of outreach and awareness-raising in communities, especially in remote areas. This is something that we aim to improve as we try to enhance our data collection system,” says Mr. Pounlanath Vannalath, Head of Kaysone Phomvihane District Home Affairs Office, Savannakhet Province.

UNFPA works closely with the Lao government through the conVERGE initiative providing capacity building to produce, use, and disseminate vital statistics, aligning practices with international standards. We seek and mobilize partners to support and improve coordination, modernize systems, raise public awareness, and produce accurate statistics towards fulfilling the government’s ICPD25 commitments and the SDGs.

Source: Lao News Agency

Laos has logged 901 new cases and one new death attributed to Covid-19 over the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 128,248, including 7,728 active cases and 508 deaths.

The National Taskforce Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control told a press conference in Vientiane today that of the new confirmed cases included 897 classified as local transmissions and four as imported cases.

The newly reported infections included 319 in Xayaboury, 201 in Vientiane, 55 in Phongsaly, 51 in Borikhamxay, 38 in Oudomxay, 25 in Khammuan, 23 in Savannakhet, and 22 each in Luang Namtha and Xieng Khuang.

Deputy Director General of the Department of Communicable Diseases Control, Ministry of Health, Dr Sisavath Soutthanilaxay told the press conference that 668 Covid-19 patients were discharged from hospitals nationwide yesterday.

Worldwide, over 4 million people have been diagnosed with Covid-19 over the past one day along with more than 9,000 new deaths attributed to the disease.

Source: Lao News Agency

Laos has logged 1,281 new cases and seven new deaths attributed to Covid-19 over the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 127,348, including 8,166 active cases and 507 deaths.

The National Taskforce Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control told a press conference in Vientiane today that of the new confirmed cases, 1,279 were classified as local transmissions and two as imported cases.

The newly reported infections included 606 in Xayaboury, 227 in Vientiane, 79 in Xieng Khuang, 52 in Phongsaly, 37 in Luang Namtha, 33 in Oudomxay, 30 each in Vientiane (province) and Savannakhet.

Yesterday witnessed 355 Covid-19 patients discharged from hospitals nationwide, Deputy Director General of the Department of Communicable Diseases Control, Ministry of Health, Dr Sisavath Soutthanilaxay told the press conference.

Source: Lao News Agency