Prime Minister Hun Sen called on the nation to work together to completely eradicate malaria from Cambodia by 2025 and from the world by 2030.

Hun Sen issued a message for National Malaria Day on April 25, which this year has the theme of “time to deliver zero malaria: invest, innovate, implement”.

The letter stated that although the fight against malaria is achieving high efficiency in line with the national strategic plan, but it is necessary to increase the efficiency further more.

“Because Cambodia has not yet completely eliminated the malaria virus, the presence of the Plasmodium Falciparum parasite threatens the lives of people, especially people who enter and reside in the mountainous and forested areas to extract forest products or for ecotourism. They are at risk for malaria transmission through the bite of a female Anopheles mosquito,” said Hun Sen.

“I would like to call on people to have the spirit of fulfilling this courageous duty to always be with the leaders, the people, as well as ministries, institutions, local authorities at all levels, the private sector, organizations, media, national and international community partners, development partners to continue to participate in and support the mission plan of elimination of malaria until we are successful completely,” he continued.

Kuong Lo, director of the Preah Vihear provincial health department, said on April 23 that in the past five years no one in the province has died because of malaria.

“What we have noticed is that during these first three to four months of this year, there are no cases of plasmodium falciparum malaria which have been found, as compared to the first semester of last year, which had one or two cases,” he said.

However, he said that the provincial health department is still reviewing and continues to intervene in accordance with the national strategic plan of the health ministry.

Malaria is caused by the bite of the female Anopheles mosquito that transmits the parasite to humans, causing illness and a major concern for public health.

Since 2018, there have been no reported deaths from malaria. The number of malaria cases has been gradually reduced from more than 110,000 cases with more than 500 deaths as the annual average prior to 2011 down to 4,041 cases with zero deaths in 2022.