Poverty alleviation lies at the very core of a strong and resilient ASEAN SocioCultural Community (ASCC). ASEAN Member Countries therefore strive, individually and collectively, to address the fundamental issue of poverty in the region. Embedded in the VAP 2004-2010, the ASCC Plan of Action sets the goal of building an ASEAN community of caring societies through among others accelerating the go...

The tourism sector, which has high inter-industry and cross-country linkages, is well suited to be the leading sector to accelerate regional economic growth and integration. International and domestic tourism are leading economic activities in the world today. Tourism has been known to generate goods and services directly and indirectly, attract foreign currency, stimulate employment, and provi...

Without a perception of a common threat from China and in the presence of the continuing tensions and disputes among ASEAN countries, intra-ASEAN defense cooperation remains limited. Over the past decade, all ASEAN decisions related to defense expenditures, weapon acquisitions, and force modernization have been made on a national basis without intra-ASEAN coordination, reflecting ASEAN interest...

This research uses 10-year (2004-2013) publication and citation data related to plant biotechnology to assess the research performance, impact, and collaboration of member states of the ASEAN in plant biotechnology. Findings indicate increased scientific output of ASEAN countries in plant biotechnology as well as increased research collaborations by individual member states and with internation...

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is highly diverse. It is also divided. The most striking example is the development divide that separates ASEAN’s newer members of Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, and Viet Nam—the CLMV countries—from the organization’s original members, or ASEAN-6. More rapid growth in Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, and Vie...

In similar fashion to western countries, ASEAN countries are also gearing up towards deregulation. Despite potentially different motivating drivers, the ultimate objectives are free market competition leading to efficient pricing signals as well as providing customers with the freedom to choose their electricity provider and benefit from competitive prices. This paper provides an ASEAN electric...

Environmental Performance Index (EPI) has been introduced since 2006 to depict the environmental performance for most of the countries in the world. The index considers ten policy categories associated with environmental public health and ecosystem sustainability. The main mathematics operation in establishing EPI is arithmetic mean of all ten policy categories. However, this operation carries ...

BACKGROUND Existing evidence suggests that the cardiovascular morbidities are increasing among pre-hypertensive individuals compared to normal. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of prehypertension, hypertension and to identify psychosocial risk factors for prehypertension among university students in Association of South East Asian Nation (ASEAN) countries. METHODS Based on...

Background As the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) gears toward full regional integration by 2015, the cross-border mobility of workers and citizens at large is expected to further intensify in the coming years. While ASEAN member countries have already signed the Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers, the health rights of migrants still nee...

BACKGROUND The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has made tobacco use prevention a primary health issue. All ASEAN countries except Indonesia have ratified the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), the world's first public health treaty on tobacco control. METHODS Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) data were collected from representative sa...