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