Health Frontiers - Worldwide healthcare-related charitable organization through which my trip to Lao was organized.  They administer a fund for poor patients which truly benefits the Lao people, as I saw firsthand.

The Boat Landing - the Guest house where we stayed in Luang Nam Tha has one of the best Lao websites in the country.

The World Health Organization has a number of Lao statistics which give some indication of the country's health.

www.heritage.org/research/features/index/ - The Wall Street Journal and The Heritage Foundation devise an annual rating of individual countries' economies.

www.bryanwatt.com - Bryan, the husband of the current pediatric residency coordinator, is a professional photographer who has experience photographing the people of the Mekong River valley and various patients in Lao.

A few travel websites may give you some ideas on planning your own trip!  www.visitmekong.com and www.visit-laos.com are two, although definitely start with The Boat Landing website above.