Hundreds
of insecticide-treated bed nets were distributed to villagers in Siem Reap
province’s Svay Leu district yesterday as part of Asia’s largest-ever mosquito
net distribution in a bid to protect the population against malaria, a World
Health Organisation representative said.
Steven Bjorge, director of malaria,
vector-borne and parasitic diseases at WHO in Cambodia, said that malaria
infections in Cambodia had decreased by 38 per cent last year compared with
2010.
“In 2010, there were 103,000 cases of malaria
in Cambodia that killed 151 people, and last year, only 85,000 cases killed 93
[people],” he said, adding that WHO was particularly concerned about mobile
populations that worked in forests and did not have fixed addresses.
“You have to make a living, but working in the
forest puts you at risk of malaria,” Bjorge said.
He told the Post this week that almost all
mosquitoes that transmit malaria in Cambodia are forest-dwelling.
The US$14.5 million program, funded by the
Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, will see a total of 2.7 million
nets provided in more than 4,000 villages in the Kingdom.
Distribution began in Kratie province in
November last year, amid concerns from the WHO that nationwide flooding could
see malaria rates rise.
Char Meng Chour, director of the National
Malaria Control Centre at the Ministry of Health, said that a total of 48,000
bed nets would be distributed in Siem Reap province alone.
He added that this year the ministry planned
to spend US$100,000 in television and radio advertisements to inform people
about malaria.
Health Minister Mam Bunheng, who helped to
distribute the nets yesterday, said that the project’s first phase involved
providing 780,000 bed nets to households in Kampong Cham, Stung Treng, Kampong
Thom, Kampong Chhnang, and Kep provinces.
Mam Bunheng added that the second phase, which
will finish at the end of this month, focuses on providing 1.9 million bed nets
to 628,000 families in a further 15 provinces, including Siem Reap.
Thik Kaliyann
The Phnom Penh Post
Business & Investment Opportunities
YourVietnamExpert is a division of Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd, Incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Consulting, Investment and Management, focusing three main economic sectors: International PR; Healthcare & Wellness;and Tourism & Hospitality. We also propose Higher Education, as a bridge between educational structures and industries, by supporting international programs. Sign up with twitter to get news updates with @SaigonBusinessC. Thanks.
No comments:
Post a Comment