Cambodia reports dramatic drops in malaria, dengue fever cases in 2013
Cambodia Health Ministry officials reported some very promising news concerning the decrease of two major mosquito borne infections in the Kingdom, according to two separate reports since Sunday.
Image/CIA
Cases of dengue fever dropped an impressive 59 percent from 2012 to 2013, according to a Xinhua report Monday.
In 2012, the country reported 42,362 dengue cases, compared to 17,533 dengue fever cases in 2013. In addition, dengue fatalities in children decreased by a whopping 70 percent from 2012 to 2013, with 189 deaths and 59 deaths, respectively.
The news for the mosquito borne parasitic disease, malaria, was just as good. A Jan. 19 Xinhua report notes that Cambodia recorded 41,850 malaria cases in 2013, down 40 percent from 69,550 cases a year earlier.
Moreover, malaria fatalities dropped precipitously from 46 deaths reported in 2012 to only 12 deaths reported last year. This represents a 74 percent decrease, prompting director of the National Center for Malaria, Char Meng Chuor to say, “Based on the figures, it can be concluded that death toll from malaria is no longer a major threat to the Cambodian people, but more efforts are still needed towards the complete elimination of the disease by 2025.”
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