12-Jul-16 In the Philippines, the healthcare system is challenged by resource constraints, affordability and dated health IT systems. The Department of Health reports there are 10 hospital beds per 10,000 population - half the WHO recommended number. To address these challenges, the government has set goals complementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 in achieving good health and well-being. [image: Manila Bulletin]

09-Jul-16 Better sharing of information and use of data will be among the tools that Singapore will use to improve its handling of infectious disease outbreaks. The Ministry of Health will also compile data from different sources and design an IT system that triggers warnings if there are abnormalities, so that investigations can begin promptly. [image: Today]

09-Jul-16 As China's medical bills rise steeply, outpacing government insurance provision, patients and their families are increasingly turning to loans to pay for healthcare, adding to the country's growing burden of consumer debt. That is luring big companies like Ping An Insurance as well as small loan firms and P2P platforms, as China's traditional savings culture proves inadequate. [image: Reuters / David Gray]

07-Jul-16 Around 61% of people prefer to buy medicines online, a survey in India has showed, highlighting a major change in consumer trends, even as the battle between offline and online chemists has intensified. Over 800,000 chemists recently threatened to go on indefinite strike if the government failed to regulate online sales. [image: Tetra Images / Getty Images]

07-Jul-16 China's top pricing regulator has launched a round of drug pricing and healthcare financing reform in the latest attempt to improve the nation's public healthcare system. The pricing reform is expected by the end of 2020, by which time financing of all public hospitals will mainly depend on healthcare services and government compensation, rather than markup of drug prices. [image: Inventariando China]