PHNOM PENH, July 15 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia reported 4,540 cases of malaria in the first half of 2020, a 70 percent drop from 15,165 over the same period last year, Health Minister Mam Bunheng said on Wednesday.
"Cambodia has seen no death from malaria since 2018, meaning that the country has achieved zero death from malaria three years earlier than the target," he said in a press release.
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease, which is often found in rainy seasons and mostly happens in forest and mountainous provinces.
Bunheng said to avoid being bitten by malaria-carrying mosquitos, people living in malaria-prone areas should sleep under insecticide-treated mosquito nets all the time.
Huy Rekol, director of the National Center for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control, said that Cambodia is committed to eliminating malaria by 2025.
To achieve that, the Southeast Asian nation needs a budget of approximately 140 million U.S. dollars for the next five years, he added.
Malaria diagnostic tests and treatment are very effective in Cambodia, Rekol said, adding that Artesunate-Mefloquine, or ASMQ, is efficacious against malaria. Enditem
