Good News Cambodia (7) Malaria Cases Continue to Fall

Higher usage of mosquito nets is a main reason why Malaria
is becoming less common in the kingdom.

Cases of malaria continue to fall according to official Cambodian figures.

'Cambodia recorded 41,850 malaria cases in 2013, down 40 percent from 69,550 cases a year earlier, a health official said Sunday.

The disease killed 12 people last year, down 74 percent from 46 deaths a year earlier, Char Meng Chuor, director of the National Center for Malaria, said in a press statement.

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, he said.'

http://www.philstar.com/world/2014/01/19/1280640/cambodia-malaria-cases-down-40-pct-2013

Good News Cambodia (6) Dengue Fever Cases Fall

'While much of the Asian continent saw larger than usual numbers of dengue fever cases in 2013, the Kingdom of Cambodia reported a 58 percent decrease in 2013 as compared to 2012.

Cambodia reported 17,491 cases of dengue fever during the first eleven months of the year, a decrease of 58 % compared to the same period in 2012. In all of 2012, they reported 42,362 cases of dengue.

This also resulted in a big decrease in dengue fatalities from 2012 to 2013. From January to November this year , 59 children died of dengue, against 183 in the same period in 2012, a decrease of 68% , said Dr. Char Meng Chuor , director of the National Center for Parasitology , Entomology and malaria control .'
~http://www.theglobaldispatch.com/cambodia-reports-big-decrease-in-dengue-in-2013/

Good News Cambodia (5) New Building for Female Prisoners with Children.

The stuffed-to-overflowing Prey Sar Correctional Centre 2 prison now has two new buildings designed to segregate female prisoners, locked up with their children, from the general population.

Such buildings should go a long way to stopping incarcerated children from contracting diseases such as tuberculosis, which is endemic in Cambodian jails.

Outside of the new cell-blocks is a playground for these captive kids.

Mothers and their children should move into the new facility on Monday.

However, this being Cambodia, there are concerns that the shiny new cells may become home for wealthy convicts who will simply bribe prison officials and and move in. Not this time, one hopes.

The buildings were paid for by Medicins San Frontieres 

Good News Cambodia (4) Malaria

'Malaria deaths dropped by half between 2011 and 2012- the most significant decline in recent decades, health officials have announced.'
~Phnom Penh Post, 21 January 2013

Thankfully, it is not just deaths from malaria that have fallen rapidly; confirmed cases of malaria appear to have dropped by as much as a third over the same period.

It would seem that the dispersal of free mosquito nets and free diagnosis, education, and treatment at the village level are the main reasons for this increasingly successful battle against malaria.

Good News Cambodia (3) Measles

Recent figures suggest that the nationwide immunization program
has all-but defeated measles in Cambodia

Both the World Health Organisation and the Cambodian Ministry of Health believe that Cambodia has all-but eradicated measles from the country.

'  Cambodia is moving closer to the nationwide elimination of measles with the National Immunization Program reporting zero cases for a full 12 months in 2012, according to a joint statement by the World Health Organization ( WHO) and Cambodia's Health Ministry on Wednesday.'

The joint statement went on to claim:

"This is a dramatic reduction from 2011 when over 700 cases of measles in children were reported and 2008 when there were over 1, 800 cases," the statement said.

The cynic in me finds in unbelievable that recorded cases of measles could drop from 700 to zero in just a year and that the figures may have been manipulated  to make both bodies look good would not surprise me an iota.

Still, it seems that the fight against the scourge of measles is being won.

Good News Cambodia (1) Breastfeeding

'In Cambodia, exclusive breastfeeding rates climbed dramatically from 11 percent in 2000 to 74 percent in 2010.

Much of the credit goes to efforts such as the Baby-Friendly Community Initiative, which organized “Mother Support Groups” to provide education and individual counseling on infant and young child feeding. 

These volunteer-led groups have reached approximately 517,000 women in 2,675 villages, promoting early and exclusive breastfeeding, continued nursing to 2 years or beyond, and appropriate complementary feeding starting at 6 months of age.'

~http://www.savethechildren.org/atf/cf/%7B9def2ebe-10ae-432c-9bd0-df91d2eba74a%7D/STATE-OF-THE-WORLDS-MOTHERS-REPORT-2012-FINAL.PDF