Expert Opinions & Stories

With health systems at a breaking point, hospitals at capacity and desperate family members searching for oxygen for loved ones, the devastating second wave of COVID-19 that has swept across South…

Ms. Hong leads the Cuu Long Coconut Product enterprise in Ben Tre Province in Viet Nam. She explained that, as orders from traditional export markets stopped during the pandemic, their production was…

Last year, the Asia-Pacific region recorded its worst economic performance in decades. With the pandemic far from over, the region’s recovery is slow, fragile and highly uneven both across and within…

An estimated 1 in 160 children could be living with autism.

With the annual World Autism Awareness Day on 2 April approaching, many parts of the world will light up in blue to join in the global…

Migrants move in search of safer and better lives. They contribute to the welfare and sustainable development of their countries of origin and destination. Yet, they face complex human rights…

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, women in the Asia-Pacific region have shown decisive leadership in steering their countries and communities with effective responses to the pandemic,…

As International Women’s Day approaches on March 8, and we prepare for the review and appraisal of the global Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing in 2022, the intersection of these two…

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and exacerbated the exclusion faced by the 690 million persons living with disabilities in the Asia-Pacific region. In initial responses to the pandemic, there was a…

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights enshrines the right to social protection for all without discrimination -- a commitment to provide relief to our fellow human beings in times of need. That…

In the midst of a global pandemic, it’s hard to think of a policy that would improve people’s wellbeing more than universal social protection.

If people are to self-isolate to contain the virus,…