With experts calling on Asia-Pacific countries to eliminate malaria by 2030, Cambodia has expressed optimism that it will become malaria-free by 2025. The experts gathered in Singapore yesterday to discuss the progress to curb malaria from the Asia-Pacific region during the of The Lancet Commission’s on malaria eradication.

Vivian Balakrishnan, Singapore’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, said countries like Singapore that have eliminated malaria are supporting their peers. He said the expertise and technology to eradicate malaria are now available in the region. According to a report by the National Centre for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control, although more than 25,000 cases were recorded in the first nine months this year, no deaths were recorded from malaria in the Kingdom.

Dr Huy Rekol, director of the NCPEMC, said the number of malaria cases has dropped by nearly 50 percent when compared to the same nine-month period last year. “Cambodia has zero malaria-related death this year and infections caused by falciparum [the deadliest type of malaria] were just about 2,000 cases,” Dr Rekol said. “This is a huge decrease. If we look back to 2018, there were 10,000 cases.”

 

read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50649084/kingdom-on-track-to-be-free-of-malaria/

It is indeed true that the country is virtually free of malaria transmission now. But the true credit is not public health programs but rather deforestation.

 

Just goes to show that every cloud does have a silver lining. Deforestation in Cambodia is causing havoc with the climate (drought and floods) and rural livelihoods, but it has pretty well wiped out the malaria vector.

In other news, dengue fever is rife.....

I almost thought this was another vaccine victory advertisement

Who writes this stuff ?????