Ministry wants people in hotspots to test for malaria
The Health Ministry is pushing for people who live in malaria hot spots to be tested for the serious and often fatal disease to be stepped up.

Minister of Health Mam Bun Heng said diagnosis will enable those infected to seek early treatment and make tracing easier in a bid to end the deadly disease by 2025.
Speaking during a meeting on Saturday with the public, park rangers and health workers at Veal village in Pursat’s Phnom Kravanh district, a mountainous area where numerous malaria cases are reported every year, Bun Heng said plantation workers and those who routinely go into the forests or the mountains to check for malaria.
“Go to health workers or volunteers for a malaria test when you return to the community so that you can be treated in time if you are infected with the plasmodium parasites, which cause malaria and are spread to people through the bites of mosquitoes.
“All provincial officials, especially the provincial health department, local authorities and health partner organisations in each province, need to implement the National Strategic Plan for Malaria Eradication to be more effective to eradicate malaria by 2025,” he said.
The minister also called for people to implement preventive measures by sleeping in insecticide-treated bed nets (ITNs), putting on mosquito repellent or taking the preventive pill while they are in the wild.
He also requested health workers and health service providers at all levels to visit the people and provide health education to change attitudes toward the prevention and treatment of malaria.
Heng Sopheana, Phnom Kravanh district governor, said malaria cases in hotspots have increased dramatically this rainy season, especially in Samroung, Rokat, Pro Ngil and San Tre communes.
Sopheana said he and his team will do their best to combat malaria in the district by creating awareness.
“We will continue to promote and encourage all citizens to cooperate with health officials to prevent the spread of malaria,” he said.
According to the Ministry of Health, Cambodia recorded 2,005 cases of malaria in the first half of 2022, a drop of 3% from 2,072 cases over the same period last year.
Huy Rekol, director of the National Centre for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control, said Cambodia has seen no malaria fatalities since 2018, which led to the Southeast Asian nation being considered a successful country in eliminating malaria deaths three years earlier than its target.
Malaria diagnostic tests and treatment are very effective in Cambodia, he said, adding that Artesunate-Mefloquine, or ASMQ, is 100% safe and efficacious against malaria.
Original article can be read here: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501165429/ministry-wants-people-in-hotspots-to-test-for-malaria/