Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's coalition secured a landslide victory in Sunday's general election, a result poised to reshape Japan's relationship with China and trigger significant economic reforms, while Thailand held an early election and the U.S. grappled with a measles outbreak. Takaichi's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is projected to win as many as 328 of the 465 seats in the parliament's lower house, according to Time, giving her a supermajority. Simultaneously, vote counting was underway in Thailand's early general election, with three main parties vying for power, as reported by NPR Politics. In the U.S., a leading health official urged citizens to get vaccinated against measles amid outbreaks across several states, as detailed by Fortune.
Takaichi's decision to call a snap election shortly after her historic rise to power proved successful. "I wanted the voters to give me a mandate because I advocated for responsible, proactive fiscal policy that would significantly shift economic and fiscal policy," Takaichi told public broadcaster NHK, according to Time. The election victory could lead to substantial changes in Japan's economic and fiscal policies.
In Thailand, the election saw a three-way race among competing visions of progressive, populist, and old-fashioned patronage politics, NPR Politics reported. The election took place against a backdrop of slow economic growth and heightened nationalist sentiment.
Meanwhile, in the U.S., Dr. Mehmet Oz urged people to get inoculated against measles. "Take the vaccine, please," he said, according to Fortune. The U.S. is at risk of losing its measles elimination status.
In other health news, Asia faces significant healthcare challenges, including aging populations and strained infrastructure, as reported by Fortune. The region accounts for only 22% of global healthcare spending despite having 60% of the world's population. Most developing Asian countries spend just 2-3% of their GDP on health, with public funding often less than $150 per person annually, compared to over $4,000 per person in OECD countries, according to Fortune. Government procurement bottlenecks further exacerbate the situation, delaying nearly 40% of major health projects.
In a separate medical development, an "external lung" system kept a patient alive for 48 hours until a transplant, as reported by Nature News.
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