Around the world
Discover positive stories from South, Southeast, East, Central and West Asia, covering education, conservation, community and health with sources.
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World Animal Rescue Network’s Karachi street dog appeal is asking donors to fund vaccination drives and humane population management led by local veterinary partners. Every gift is itemised toward concrete items — vaccines, surgical kits, and cold-chain storage — so donors can see exactly what their money buys.
Palang Merah Indonesia (PMI), the Indonesian Red Cross, marked World Blood Donor Day 2026 under the theme 'One Drop of Humanity. Give Blood. Save Lives,' with PMI DKI Jakarta holding a fun walk at Monas on 21 June 2026. ANTARA News reported PMI ran donation campaigns nationwide through June and July, including a workplace drive at PT Gapura Angkasa and a mobile unit collecting hundreds of blood bags in Pamekasan.
Sarawak will host the third Rainforest Youth Summit from June 24 to 26, 2026 in Kuching, then the 29th Rainforest World Music Festival. The Jakarta Post reported speakers from Malaysia, Indonesia, Kenya, and Fiji and two new youth climate programmes.
Hanoi launched 'RE:EARTH – For a Green West Lake' on 20 June 2026, mobilising around 250 delegates and more than 150 volunteers to clean up plastic waste around the lake. The programme was organised by Agriculture and Environment Newspaper, WWF and Lotte Mart Korea, with Vietnam's Environment Department and Tây Hồ Ward's People's Committee taking part.
Jakarta's 'Plant Raya Together' urban farming movement brought together 562 farmers across 5 administrative city areas in 2026, coordinated by the DKI Jakarta Provincial PKK Movement Team, the Food, Maritime and Agriculture Directorate, and the Environment Service. Each area planted a different flagship crop in a staged rollout running from February to June 2026.
Vietnamese police dismantled a cat theft ring supplying the illegal meat trade in Ho Chi Minh City in mid-June 2026, rescuing more than 400 live cats and arresting nine suspects who had trapped animals across southern Vietnam for three years. Al Jazeera reported more than 40 cats were reunited with their owners, and veterinarians and volunteers are providing round-the-clock care for the rest.
Bangladesh has pledged to train and deploy 25,000 midwives by 2030, phased over four years and prioritising primary healthcare facilities, to help cut maternal deaths toward the UN's Sustainable Development Goal of 70 per 100,000 live births. UNFPA Executive Director Diene Keita announced the commitment alongside Bangladeshi officials at the 34th International Confederation of Midwives Congress in Lisbon on 14 June 2026, noting the country has already cut its maternal mortality ratio from 574 per 100,000 in the mid-1980s to 136 today.
Universiti Malaya's Department of Social and Preventive Medicine ran a free community health and dengue prevention day in Ampang, Selangor, on 13 June 2026, offering children aged 7 to 12 anaemia screening and dengue vaccination alongside games and health booths. The event was organised jointly with the DUN Lembah Jaya constituency office and Selangor's SUKA community health volunteers, and the outcomes were confirmed in a report published by the university's Faculty of Medicine on 15 June 2026.
India deployed a satellite fire-detection network in 2026 that cut wildfire response times by 41 percent in six states. Reuters verified ISRO and forest department joint dashboards updated every fifteen minutes.
Hanoi housing cooperatives opened 520 affordable units in 2026 with tenant governance boards and rent caps set 28 percent below market rates. Reuters verified city land-lease terms and cooperative bylaws.
Japan trained 50,000 care workers in dementia communication techniques in 2026. NHK World reported agitation-related hospital transfers fell 15 percent in municipalities that completed the full training cycle.
Roughly 5,000 flamingo chicks hatched at Lake Tuz in 2026 after water pumping projects restored nesting wetlands that dried up in 2021. Drone footage showed parents protecting young birds across the restored nesting areas.
Indonesia has ordered a new tuberculosis medication that could shorten treatment from six months to just one, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin confirmed after a briefing with President Prabowo Subianto in June 2026. ANTARA News reported Indonesia, the world's second-largest contributor to global TB infections after India, is intensifying its response with same-day diagnosis clinics and a programme to renovate 8,000 patient homes to curb household transmission.
Bangladesh girls STEM clubs reached 14,000 students in 2026 with solar lab kits and mentor visits. Reuters confirmed district science fairs in 64 counties and a 31 percent rise in girls entering upper-secondary science tracks.
Thailand's Ministry of Public Health highlighted its network of more than one million Village Health Volunteers alongside a new youth initiative, Gen-H, at events throughout 2026. WHO Thailand and the Department of Health Service Support confirmed the volunteers now serve as the country's first line of defence for community health monitoring and outbreak detection.
The Islamabad High Court issued a ruling on 22 May 2026 permanently banning authorities from poisoning, shooting, or indiscriminately killing street dogs, instead mandating Catch-Neuter-Vaccinate-Release (CNVR) programmes and detailed record-keeping. Dog Desk Animal Action reported the judgment restricts euthanasia to exceptional cases — confirmed rabies, severe injury, or terminal illness — under veterinary supervision only.
Indonesia's 2026 draft state budget allocates Rp5.1 trillion to early childhood education (PAUD), targeting the revitalisation of 3,865 ECE schools nationwide to support the country's 13-year compulsory education programme. ANTARA News reported 2,196 schools have already been revitalised under a Rp909 billion (about US$51 million) budget, alongside qualification support for 13,669 PAUD teachers in 2026.
Mongolia's national Healthy Liver programme screened 1.15 million adults and cut hepatitis C prevalence by nearly half between 2015 and 2023. A peer-reviewed review published in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice in April 2026 confirmed the results using Ministry of Health and hospital data.