Malaria on the retreat in SE Asia

Malaria on the retreat in SE Asia

PHNOM PENH: Malaria, one of the biggest killers in the insect- infested jungles of southeast Asia, is on the retreat thanks to a five-year, multi-million dollar battle to stamp it out, scientists said.

The mosquito-borne disease has been a major burden on impoverished Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia throughout their history, but figures from the Regional Malaria Control Program (RMCP) show new infections are probably at their lowest level ever.

"While malaria remains a health risk in certain provinces in these countries, medical experts... say the problem is now under control," an RMCP statement said on Saturday.

Through a combination of public education about the disease's symptoms, distribution of mosquito nets and new drugs, malaria infections in landlocked Laos have dropped by 90 percent in the last five years.

In Vietnam and Cambodia, where more than 170,000 people got malaria in 1997, similar campaigns in the worst affected provinces have resulted in decreases of around 60 percent in new infections, and a decline in malaria related deaths of around 75 percent. --Reuters