Priority health concerns

The head of the government’s National Malaria Center said on Tuesday that mefloquine-based malaria drugs began arriving in western Cambodia earlier this month, two years after local and international health experts agreed they were needed to combat the parasite’s growing resistance to other medicines. ...

A new study by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) has confirmed that resistance is growing to one of the key drugs being used to fight malaria in Cambodia, a situation likely to worsen and which could lead to a growing caseload in the ...

Cambodia has reported 15,015 dengue fever cases in the first 50 weeks of this year, a more than 300 percent rise from the 3,611 cases over the same period last year, according to figures released yesterday.  ...

Cambodian health officials have been sent to a northeastern district where 10 people died and more than 100 were sickened in two separate incidents linked to the consumption of dog meat and rice wine, a medical officer said Friday. ...

When the Battambang Provincial Court last week handed down a 25-year prison sentence to Yem Chrin, an unlicensed medic blamed for spreading HIV to more than 280 residents of rural Roka commune, it likely failed to consider relevant medical evidence, according to interviews with doctors ...

A recently published study of a 2012 enterovirus outbreak that killed at least 54 Cambodian children has found that flare-ups of the virus tend to occur in a cyclical pattern, and that another one could be in store soon.Widespread in the Asia-Pacific region, the virus ...

Following the 25-year sentence for an unlicensed doctor who caused an outbreak of HIV, rights, development and legal experts consider whether justice was served.The questions revolve around how many years imprisonment should be meted out by the court in a case that may have been ...

An unlicensed doctor was sentenced to 25 years in prison yesterday after being found guilty by Battambang Provincial Court of “torture with aggravating circumstances” for infecting hundreds of people with HIV.Yem Chroeum, 56, stared at the ground as presiding judge Yich Chheanavy read out the ...

The Global Fund, provider of the lion’s share of money for Cambodia’s $12 million-a-year HIV treatment and prevention program, has told the government it expects it to begin footing more of the bill itself, a push that is prompting worries among local health-care providers. However, ...

The rate of HIV infection in Cambodia has decreased in the past year, according to new figures from the National AIDS Authority, but experts say further work is needed to prevent new infections and increase access to medical treatment. ...

Cambodia is on track to achieve the “Three Zeros” HIV/AIDS target by 2020, Deputy Prime Minister Men Sam An said here on Tuesday.The 3 Zeros, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in New York in June 2011, included zero new HIV infections, zero stigma ...

In Roka commune, money is getting tight.After an HIV outbreak in 2014 saw 264 people infected in the small northwest Cambodian village, aid flowed in, showily. The prime minister’s wife delivered hundreds of kilos of rice, the health minister brought socks and sarongs, nongovernmental organizations ...

A recent study of Cambodian monkeys found that nonhuman primates can host viruses previously thought to only infect humans. ...

Following two strenuous days of races at the Water Festival this week, boatman Sgnoun Chai celebrated its conclusion on Wednesday with a night on the town. ...

Eight people have died of malaria so far this year across the country, according to the government’s latest figures. The deaths mean Cambodia has missed its goal to eliminate fatalities from the mosquito-borne parasite by 2015, though health officials questioned the number—and even the target. ...

More than 2,000 ducks have died from the H5N1 bird flu in Siem Reap and Battambang provinces since Thursday in the first outbreak of the virus since March 2014, according to officials and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) on Tuesday. ...

Cambodia reported two outbreaks of the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu virus among backyard duck flocks in the northwestern part of the country, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) said on Monday. ...

Fleeing strict new laws at home, surrogacy companies are moving their “wombs for rent” services from Thailand to Cambodia, causing some analysts to raise concerns that would-be parents could be swindled by the little-regulated industry. ...

A groundbreaking new study on human transmission of the dengue virus conducted in Kompong Cham province has shown that the virus can be spread back to mosquitoes by asymptomatic carriers, who are actually more infectious than those displaying symptoms. ...

The health minister on Friday defended the government’s failure to fine or shut down any of the private clinics that are currently illegally promoting baby formula to new mothers, saying that more time was needed for committees to “investigate” the breaches. ...

After years of research and testing, a nutritional snack meant to halt rampant malnourishment and stunting among Cambodian children has been developed in the form of a fish paste-filled wafer, which will be released on the market by 2017. ...

The United Nations has expressed admiration to Cambodia for having responded successfully to the spread of HIV/AIDS, reported the state news agency-AKP. According to an official report, Cambodia has currently over 700,000 people living with HIV/AIDS and some 500,000 of them are receiving antiretroviral treatment. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen has called for stronger enforcement of regulations on the promotion and sale of baby formula, linking a decrease in the number of women who breast-feed to an increase in un­lawful and misleading advertising that misrepresents milk substitutes and deceives new mothers. ...

Som Saron has not worked since testing positive for HIV late last year. Taking care of her young niece at her parents’ home in Roka commune last week, the 37-year-old said that a fear of being stigmatized kept her from walking the community’s gravel roads selling ...