Stanford University

Substance Abuse Policy in Thailand: Current Challenges and Future Strategies

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Background: Substance abuse has been an important social and public health problem in Thailand for decades. The National Household Survey on Substance and Alcohol Use in Thailand, which has been conducted 5 times, shows that substance abuse has steadily increased. Extrapolated country-wide in recent data, the estimated number of people who had ever used at least one addictive substance at some time in their life was 3,531,436 or 7.30% of the total population aged 12-65 years. Krathom, Methamphetamine, Ice, and cannabis were the most prevalent substances of abuse.

Methods: Historical documentation, policy reports, and group discussion with key professionals who work in the substance abuse community were used in this study. The objectives of this study were to complete a document review, determine the effectiveness of previous  Thai illegal substance measures, and consider options for the future.

Findings: Although the Thai government has dedicated human resources and an enormous budget to controlling drug use, substance abuse has become a more severe problem when compared with previous years. There are many organizations trying to create and develop programs, measures, and policies for dealing with substance abuse. These policies usually have had loopholes which resulted in corruption of officers, undercutting the public health value, creating dilemmas for impoverished families experiencing drug abuse, ignoring human rights, and creating a negative attitude among society toward drug users. Barriers to establishing successful drug abuse policies in Thailand include limited access to data and data management, a lack of efficiency and cost-benefit measures and policies, and limited use of evidence-based research.

Conclusion: To address illegal substance abuse in the future, the stakeholders should work to reduce the incidence of new sellers and the prevalence of new users. This would result in diminishing the health impact and criminal aspect of illegal substance use, increase social awareness, and motivate communities to participate in managing this issue. To reach these goals, the policy should concurrently aim at curtailing the supply of illicit drugs and reducing their demand. The strategies relevant to drug policy consist of primary prevention, services for chronic drug users, supply control and regulations, prescription regimes, and the use of criminal sanctions, especially consideration of decriminalization of krathom use.

darika 4x6
Darika Saingam is a researcher from Thailand. Her research works have focused on patterns and consequences of alcohol, tobacco, and illegal substance use. Currently she joins the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center as the Developing Asia Health Policy Postdoctoral Fellow for the 2015-16 year. She completed her doctorate in epidemiology at the Prince of Songkla University in 2012, and has worked as a researcher at the University’s epidemiology unit since, as well as a researcher at the Thailand Substance Abuse Academic Network since 2014.

Darika Saingam 2015-16 Developing Asia Health Policy Postdoctoral Fellow
Seminars

Back to the Source: Yamaha Motor's Challenges on Business Development

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Hiroshi “Hiro” Saijou is CEO and Managing Director at Yamaha Motor Ventures & Laboratory Silicon Valley. Prior to founding YMVSV, Hiro was a Division Manager at Yamaha Motor Corporation, USA where he led exploratory efforts in Silicon Valley.  Hiro started his career at Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. (Iwata, Japan) where he worked for almost two decades on a broad array of surface mount technology and robotics efforts in addition to new business development efforts. Hiro enjoys exploring the California Bay Area, sometimes with his golf clubs.  He speaks at conferences frequently on bold, ambitious, sometimes crazy corporate innovation. Hiro earned a software engineering degree from Kyushu University, one of Japan’s National Seven Universities.

SEMINAR DESCRIPTION

The introduction of Yamaha Motor's business development effort utilizing Silicon Valley Ecosystem. Growth of business and corporation to deliver more value to the society is essential desire for all of us, but there are so many options to be taken. In this presentation, we will share our thoughts and experience; what is our objectives, how Yamaha Motor started this business development tasks, why we need to incorporate Yamaha Motor Ventures and how we did it, what are our ongoing ambitious / unique / crazy projects.

AGENDA

4:15pm: Doors open
4:30pm-5:30pm: Talk and Discussion
5:30pm-6:00pm: Networking

RSVP REQUIRED
 
For more information about the Silicon Valley-New Japan Project please visit: http://www.stanford-svnj.org/
Hiro Saijou, CEO and Managing Director, Yamaha Motor Ventures & Laboratory Silicon Valley Inc.
Seminars
Stanford Silicon Valley-New Japan Project

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman on the Trans-Pacific Partnership

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U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, America’s top trade official and a member of the President’s cabinet, will discuss the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a groundbreaking new trade agreement with countries throughout the Asia-Pacific Region. During his final State of the Union address last month, President Obama urged Congress to pass this legislation during the current session.  Winning congressional approval of the TPP is one of the Obama Administration’s leading priorities for 2016.

Ambassador Froman will highlight both how exporting Made-in-America products benefits the California economy as well as how the TPP will strengthen America’s economy and its relationships with key partners in the Asia-Pacific region.

Ambassador Michael Froman is President Barack Obama’s principal advisor, negotiator and spokesperson on international trade and investment issues.  He leads the Office of the United States Trade Representative in its work to open global markets for America’s exports, enforce U.S. rights in the global trading system, and foster development through trade.

Key initiatives under Ambassador Froman’s leadership include the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement in the Asia-Pacific Region; the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the European Union; the negotiation of agreements on services, information technology and trade facilitation at the World Trade Organization; and monitoring and enforcement of U.S. trade rights, including through the Interagency Trade and Enforcement Center (ITEC).

Prior to becoming USTR, Ambassador Froman served at the White House as Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economic Affairs, responsible for coordinating policy on international trade and finance, energy security and climate change, and development and democracy issues.

Before joining the Obama Administration, Ambassador Froman served in a number of roles at Citigroup, as a Senior Fellow at the Council of Foreign Relations, and a Resident Fellow at the German Marshall Fund.

He received a bachelor’s degree in Public and International Affairs from Princeton University, a doctorate in International Relations from Oxford University and a law degree from Harvard Law School.

For Ambassador Froman’s complete biography, click here.

Conditions for Entry:

  • Current Stanford student or valid photo ID required
  • All bags, backpacks and purses subject to search
  • No signs are allowed
  • No noisemakers are allowed

This event is co-sponsored by the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, the U.S.-Asia Security Initiative, the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center and the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.

Please direct media inquires to Ms. Lisa Griswold, lisagris@stanford.edu

Seminars

Autocracy: Toward an Integrated Analytical Framework

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Abstract:

The study of autocracy is arguably one of the most visible fields in political science, producing an already voluminous and still growing literature. The field, however, is not without its problems. One fact perhaps stands out: The field has become extremely fragmented as the field has expanded. This state of fragmentation has its costs. We put forward an integrated and dynamic framework for understanding autocratic politics. An integrated framework allows us to better organize empirical data, reconcile diverging results and interpretations, and reveal neglected and hidden interactions of factors, mechanisms, and pathways. Equally important, an integrated framework exposes critical gaps within our knowledge and suggests new directions for further inquiries.

 

Speaker Bio:

tang 2012
Shiping Tang is Fudan Distinguished Professor and Dr. Seaker Chan Chair Professor at the School of International Relations and Public Affairs (SIRPA), Fudan University, Shanghai, China. He is currently a Fulbright visiting research scholar (2015-16) at the School of Global Policy and Strategy, University of California at San Diego. Prof. Tang has very broad research interests and has published widely. His most recent book, The Social Evolution of International Politics (2013), received the International Studies Association (ISA) “Annual Best Book Award” in 2015. He is also the author of A General Theory of Institutional Change (2011), A Theory of Security Strategy for Our Time: Defensive Realism (2010), and many articles in journals in international relations, institutional economics, sociology, and philosophy of the social sciences.

Shiping Tang Fudan Distinguished Professor
Seminars

"Variation in Child Mortality across Sub-Saharan Africa: Way Finer than National Rates"

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Please note: All research in progress seminars are off-the-record. Any information about methodology and/or results are embargoed until publication.

Abstract

Measuring and monitoring under-five mortality is a global priority and an important indicator of development. Among all the world’s regions, Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for the highest mortality rates and the largest number of under-five deaths. Under-five mortality is mostly monitored at the level of countries, especially in low- and middle-income countries, where estimates mostly rely on nationally representative surveys. However, learning about child mortality at a granular level can be very informative, so we did that at a 0.1 degree x 0.1 degree resolution. We look at some implications, including the existence and extent of mortality hotspots and the importance of "institutions" in accounting for the variation in mortality.
 

Eran Bendavid

Encina Commons, Room 102,
615 Crothers Way,
Stanford, CA 94305-6019

(650) 723-0984 (650) 723-1919
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Professor, Medicine
Professor, Health Policy
Senior Fellow, by courtesy, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
Senior Fellow, Woods Institute for the Environment
eran_bendavid MD, MS

My academic focus is on global health, health policy, infectious diseases, environmental changes, and population health. Our research primarily addresses how health policies and environmental changes affect health outcomes worldwide, with a special emphasis on population living in impoverished conditions.

Our recent publications in journals like Nature, Lancet, and JAMA Pediatrics include studies on the impact of tropical cyclones on population health and the dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 infectivity in children. These works are part of my broader effort to understand the health consequences of environmental and policy changes.

Collaborating with trainees and leading academics in global health, our group's research interests also involve analyzing the relationship between health aid policies and their effects on child health and family planning in sub-Saharan Africa. My research typically aims to inform policy decisions and deepen the understanding of complex health dynamics.

Current projects focus on the health and social effects of pollution and natural hazards, as well as the extended implications of war on health, particularly among children and women.

Specific projects we have ongoing include:

  • What do global warming and demographic shifts imply for the population exposure to extreme heat and extreme cold events?

  • What are the implications of tropical cyclones (hurricanes) on delivery of basic health services such as vaccinations in low-income contexts?

  • What effect do malaria control programs have on child mortality?

  • What is the evidence that foreign aid for health is good diplomacy?

  • How can we compare health inequalities across countries? Is health in the U.S. uniquely unequal? 

     

CV
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Eran Bendavid
Seminars

China's Evolving Labor Market and Human Capital Development

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About the Topic: An important factor of China’s economic success in the past 35 years was its labor force: its growing size, increasing education level, and reallocation to more efficient sectors. In contrast, China’s labor force is shrinking today, and rural-to-urban migration has slowed significantly.  To maintain a reasonable growth rate, improving human capital and increasing the productivity of labor is key. This talk will discuss pressing issues regarding China’s education, in particular its efficiency and distribution, and offer potential policy recommendations. 

 

About the Speaker:  Hongbin Li is the C.V. Starr Chair professor of economics in the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. He also founded and served as the executive associate director of the China Data Center.  He obtained his Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University in 2001, and is currently a visiting professor of economics at the Stanford Center for International Development and the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.

Goldman Conference Room

Encina Hall East, 4th floor

616 Serra St.

Stanford, CA 94305

C.V. Starr Chair Professor of Economics Tsinghua University
Seminars

The potential and challenges of customer feedback in the public sector

Abstract

This talk will present the Pakistan Citizen Feedback Monitoring Program (CFMP), which, leveraging the ubiquitous presence of ordinary cell phones, aims to fight petty corruption, improve service delivery and improve trust in the state. Replicated in Albania and Romania, such proactive universal surveying of beneficiaries, already widely practiced in the private sector, is implementable in in a wide variety of public sector setting at a relatively low cost. A historical case study on CFMP was recently published by Princeton University.  

Bio

Zubair K. Bhatti is a Senior Public Sector Management Specialist at the World Bank. He is the co-author of Logged On: Smart Government Solutions from South Asia.

 

The event is sponsored by the Center for South Asia, and would be of interest to the LibTech community.
 

 

The potential and challenges of customer feedback in the public sector

Encina Hall West, Room 219

Seminars

Rival Reputations: Coercion and Credibility in US-North Korea Relations

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van jackson event
How has North Korea managed to experience numerous foreign policy crises without escalation to war?  Why has North Korea been willing to repeatedly engage in small-scale attacks against the United States and its South Korean ally?  And why have U.S. officials in liberal and conservative presidential administrations only rarely taken North Korean threats seriously?  In this presentation of his newly released book, Rival Reputations: Coercion and Credibility in US-North Korea Relations, (Cambridge University Press), Dr. Van Jackson argues that these puzzles are best explained with reference to the weight of history in U.S. and North Korean foreign policy.  The book draws on the concept of reputation--the influence of past words and deeds on decision-making in the present--to explain patterns of hostile interactions in foreign policy between the United States and North Korea from 1960s through the present day.  The book's findings have major implications for the conduct of U.S. and South Korean foreign and defense policy toward North Korea.

Dr. Van Jackson is an associate professor in the College of Security Studies at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, specializing in East Asian security, U.S. foreign policy, defense strategy, historical institutionalism, and international relations theory. He is also an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) in Washington, as well as a senior editor for the online defense daily, War on the Rocks. From 2009 to 2014, Dr. Jackson held positions in the Office of the Secretary of Defense as a strategist and policy adviser focused on the Asia-Pacific, senior country director for Korea, and working group chair of the U.S.–Republic of Korea Extended Deterrence Policy Committee. He has previously taught at Georgetown University and the Catholic University of America, and has held fellowships with the Council on Foreign Relations, CNAS, and Pacific Forum CSIS. He is also widely published in leading disciplinary and area studies journals.

Van Jackson <i>College of Security Studies, Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies</i>
Seminars
Korean Studies Colloquium Series

Nudging Good People into Public Service: Evidence from a Field Experiment in the Philippines

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Incompetent and dishonest politicians are common in developing countries. Scholars who write about corruption and poor governance tend to take the existence of bad politicians as a given and focus on the damage that they do. Few study the ways in which politicians are recruited in order to improve that process. Some scholars acknowledge the need to encourage the creation of a political class that is competent and honest. But none have gone further by conducting real-world experiments to evaluate the efficacy of screening and incentivizing competent and virtuous citizens to stand for public office, that is, how to nudge good people to become politicians in the first place.

Dr. Ravanilla will describe a policy intervention designed to attract able and ethical candidates to public service. Can a leadership-training workshop and non-monetary status rewards be used to screen and motivate good people to serve the public good? His answer is yes. The results of a randomized field experiment among youth running for an elective post in the Philippines show that such an intervention is indeed feasible and can be effective in motivating able and moral individuals to seek public office while at the same time discouraging candidates who do not meet these criteria.

rnico
Nico Ravanilla will begin an assistant professorship in the School of Global Policy and Strategy at the University of California, San Diego, in September 2016.  The Southeast Asia Research Group named him a Young Southeast Asia Fellow for 2015-16.  He earned his PhD in political science and public policy at the University of Michigan in 2015.

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Nico Ravanilla 2015-16 Shorenstein APARC Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford University
Seminars

Research in Progress (RIP): "Tuskegee and the Health of Black Men"

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Please note: All research in progress seminars are off-the-record. Any information about methodology and/or results are embargoed until publication.

Abstract:

For forty years, the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male passively monitored hundreds of adult black males with syphilis despite the availability of effective treatment. The study's methods have become synonymous with exploitation and mistreatment by the medical community. We find that the historical disclosure of the study in 1972 is correlated with increases in medical mistrust and mortality and decreases in outpatient physician interactions for black men. Blacks possessing prior experience with the medical community, including veterans and women, appear to have been less affected by the disclosure. Our findings relate to a broader literature on how beliefs are formed and the importance of trust for economic exchanges involving asymmetric information.

Jointly with Marianne Wanamaker

Marcella Alsan
Seminars
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