PHNOM PENH, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia reported 31,971 cases of malaria in 2019, a 49 percent drop compared to the year before, Health Minister Mam Bunheng said here on Wednesday.
"There was no any death from malaria since 2018," he said at the annual meeting of the National Center for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control.
Huy Rekol, director of the National Center for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control, said the Southeast Asian country is committed to eliminating malaria cases by 2025.
"To achieve this target, the country needs the budget of about 140 million U.S. dollars for the next five years," he told Xinhua. "We hope that all development partners and friendly countries, including China, will continue to support us toward a malaria-free Cambodia by 2025."
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease, which is often found in rainy seasons and mostly happens in forest and mountainous provinces.
Rekol said the kingdom had distributed more than 1 million insecticide-treated mosquito nets for free to people living in malaria-prone areas last year.
"To avoid being bitten by malaria-carrying mosquitos, people living in malaria-prone areas should sleep under insecticide-treated mosquito nets all the time," he said.
Malaria diagnostic tests and treatment are very effective in Cambodia, Rekol said, adding that Artesunate-Mefloquine, or ASMQ, is efficacious against malaria.
