Early childhood development

In a landmark public health achievement, the World Health Organization (WHO) has validated the Maldives for eliminating mother-to-child transmission (EMTCT) of hepatitis B.

The Kalinga Art Gallery in Bhubaneswar burst into a vibrant celebration of colour, courage, and creativity as Unmukt Foundation hosted its annual Art Exhibition 2025, themed “Freedom – From the Lens of a Child.”

The launch, done together with the Ministry of Health and UNICEF in Bhutan,  coincides with UNICEF’s new global child nutrition report, which finds that overweight and obesity are rising fast among children, including in Bhutan.

With each mother who learns to cook a new, nutritious meal, and each spoonful of semolina porridge lovingly fed to a child, the cycle of poverty and poor health begins to break.

Using self-reported questionnaires, the survey assessed aspects such as alcohol and drug use, eating habits, physical activity levels, psychosocial wellbeing, injuries, exposure to violence and skipping meals due to food insufficiency.

In 2023 alone, roughly 260,000 women worldwide died during or shortly after childbirth, with 22 per cent (about 58,000 maternal deaths) occurring in the Asia-Pacific – many of which were preventable with timely midwife-led care.

The World Health Organization on Monday announced Nepal has eliminated rubella as a public health problem, a remarkable achievement for a country making concerted efforts to protect its people from vaccine preventable diseases.

The initiative, spearheaded by Prime Minister and Minister of Education Dr. Harini Amarasuriya, aims to overhaul the country’s education system to meet the demands of a rapidly evolving global landscape.