During the first nine months of this year, 7,668 malaria cases were reported, representing a 70 per cent drop compared to the same period last year, Minister of Health Mam Bun Heng said. Last year, there were 25,499 malaria patients.
The country has not reported a malaria-related death for three consecutive years.
Speaking during the launch of an initiative to eliminate malaria in Cambodia by 2023 at the Kampong Speu Provincial Hall on Tuesday, Bun Heng said the Kingdom has been successful in its malaria prevention. The prior goal was to eliminate malaria-related deaths by 2020, which has been achieved.
The government’s new goal is to eliminate Plasmodium falciparum by 2023.
“There have been 754 cases of Plasmodium falciparum recorded in the Kingdom during the first nine months of 2020. The rate is 0.07 per 1,000 people. This is a success because our expected indicator for 2020 was 1.05 cases per 1,000 people,” he said.
The province with the highest rate of Plasmodium falciparum is Mondulkiri province (0.73), followed by Kampong Speu (0.49), Ratanakkiri (0.46) and Stung Treng (0.36), the minister said.
To be able to entirely eliminate Plasmodium falciparum successfully, we have to practise the measure entitled “Eliminate the Last Stage of Plasmodium Falciparum, 2020-2023”.
The initiative will start in Kampong Speu and then will be extended to other provinces after three months of evaluation.
Kampong Speu provincial governor Vei Samnang told The Post that malaria in his province has dropped noticeably during the last several years. There were 6,491 cases in 2018, 5,371 cases in 2019 and 1,925 cases this year. The death rate from this disease has been zero since 2018, he said.
“Meanwhile, even though we are facing difficult times due to Covid-19 and have to practise various prevention measures, we follow the guidelines of the government and the health ministry persistently.
“We will also practise some measures to prepare everything to fight against Plasmodium falciparum to reach a rate of zero by 2023,” he said.
