Health
Thai medical tourism banks on Americans
As the US debates multi-billion dollar reforms to its health system, a growing number of Americans are seeking out medical treatment abroad. Many are travelling to Thailand, where they are finding medical care cheaper and with better care than they might receive at home.
Al Jazeera’s Aela Callan reports on a growing trend of patients from across the world travelling to Thailand for affordable healthcare.
Companies
AstraZeneca Approves Thailand’s Vaccine Factory

BANGKOK (NNT) – AstraZeneca has approved safety standards at Thailand’s vaccine factory and will send the first batch of raw materials for vaccine production in June.
Health
Skin-lightening products market to reach US$31 billion by 2024
In emerging Asian and African economies, the natural aspiration to enhance one’s circumstances has led to rapid growth in the market for skin-lightening products, which is projected to reach US$31 billion by 2024.

Recent years have seen evolving awareness of systemic inequities including racism, sexism and pro-Western chauvinism.
Ecommerce
Has Covid-19 prompted the Belt and Road Initiative to go green?

– Chinese overseas investment dropped off in 2020
– Government remains committed to the wide-ranging infrastructure programme
– Sustainability, health and digital to be the new cornerstones of the initiative
Following a year of coronavirus-related disruptions, China appears to be placing a greater focus on sustainable, digital and health-related projects in its flagship Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
As OBG outlined in April last year, the onset of Covid-19 prompted questions about the future direction of the BRI.
Launched in 2013, the BRI is an ambitious international initiative that aims to revive ancient Silk Road trade routes through large-scale infrastructure development.
By the start of 2020 some 2951 BRI-linked projects – valued at a total of $3.9trn – were planned or under way across the world.
However, as borders closed and lockdowns were imposed, progress stalled on a number of major BRI infrastructure developments.
In June China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that 30-40% of BRI projects had been affected by the virus, while a further 20% had been “seriously affected”. Restrictions on the flow of Chinese workers and construction supplies were cited as factors behind project suspensions or slowdowns in Pakistan, Cambodia and Indonesia, among other countries.