Philippine News Digest 76
May 24 - 28, 2004
Contents:
Philippine
economy up 6.4 percent
UN: China
faces AIDS time bomb
700,000
asians killed yearly by bad food, water
Philippine
economy up 6.4 percent
The
Philippines' gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 6.4 percent in the first
three months of the year, the highest since 2001, according to the
National Statistical Coordination Board. This figure surpassed the
forecast by economists who earlier predicted a GDP growth of between 4.3
and 5.5 percent. The gross national product meanwhile increased by 6.2
percent following an upward revised growth of 4.8 percent in the fourth
quarter of last year. Even so, analysts and other multilateral
institutions predict that the robust growth wouldn't last. Some say it was
driven by domestic consumption aided by election-related spending by the
government. Source:
Michelle V. Reno in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, 28 May 2004.
UN: China
faces AIDS time bomb
The
United Nations through UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot warned Chinese
authorities of an AIDS epidemic spreading to key economic areas like
Guangdong and Shanghai unless it breaks the silence surrounding the issue.
AIDS acitivists in the past have been muzzled or detained for speaking out
but the UN official was optimistic that there had been a “sea change”
in how China is confronting the disease making it less likely there will
be 10 million people infected by 2010 as the United Nations warned.
Official figures put the number of people with HIV at 840,000, about 10
perent of whom suffer from AIDS. Activists say the extent of the outbreak
is far higher, saying over a million may be infected in the central
province of Hennan alone. Source:
Reuters in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, 25 May 2004.
700,000
Asians killed yearly by bad food, water
Hartwig
de Haen, assistant director general of the UN's Food and Agriculture
Organization revealed in a conference of food safety policymakers and
specialists from 40 countries in the Asia-Pacific region that more than
700,000 Asians die from consuming contaminated food or water every year.
He said that the average estimated cost in each outbreak of food-borne
illnesses is $100 per person per year and the cost could be higher in
developing nations. This can badly strain health care systems and reduce
productivity, according to Han Tieru, UN's World Health Organization
representative. Source:
Agence France Press in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, 25 May 2004.
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