19-May-16 Philips, a significant early investor in Singapore, has opened an APAC centre to support its transformation to a healthcare technology provider. “Philips' transformation into a health and wellness company, with a growing emphasis on innovation and value creation is very much aligned with our imperatives for the future of Singapore’s economy,” said Mr S Iswaran, Minister for Trade & Industry. [image: Philips]

19-May-16 Panasonic Healthcare Indonesia, a Panasonic subsidiary producing medical equipment, plans to increase sales by 70% over the next four years on the back of growing exports. The company eyes USD88 mn in sales by 2020, up from USD51 mn in 2015. Panasonic acquired Bayer Diabetes Care earlier this year, opening up opportunities for the Indonesian unit to tap offshore markets. [image: Jakarta Globe]

18-May-16 China's big three Internet giants, Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent, and several tech startups, are getting involved in healthcare. Digital healthcare is becoming big in China. In 2014 approximately USD700 mn in venture funding poured into digital healthcare in China, with investors supporting everything from e-commerce, online physician-patient communication services, to disease management apps. [image: CKGSB Knowledge]

18-May-16 An online platform ranking Hong Kong hospitals’ quality of care based on patient reviews has been launched. HospitalAdvisor.org.hk covers all 41 public and 11 private hospitals in the territory and seeks to empower patients to make more considered decisions about their hospital care. [image: South China Morning Post]

17-May-16 Maternal and child health outcomes achieved in Afghanistan have been fairly positive in a little over a decade. Unless we find ways to build health systems in fragile and failed states, it will be harder to progress on global goals such as the reduction of maternal and child mortality, and to protect the world from new infectious disease outbreaks. [image: GlobalGiving]