Battling dengue on a shoestring
The man leading Cambodia’s seemingly Sisyphean attempt to combat dengue fever can be found most days in a weakly lit office inside the Communicable Disease Control Department, which is stacked wall to wall with drooping folders and medical texts.
For more than 10 years, the soft-spoken Dr Chantha Ngan – director of the Ministry of Health’s anti-dengue program – has been fighting a thankless battle for funding and attention over a virus colloquially known as “break-bone fever”. …
What they are given is generally a fraction of that dedicated to fighting malaria.
But, while malaria deaths have dropped 25 per cent in the Kingdom since 2000, dengue cases more than doubled between 2000 and 2010.
According to the latest figures from the World Health Organization, 12,943 cases and 40 deaths have been reported this year thus far.
Closed off from the seeming funding bonanza that is malaria, those fighting dengue – a far less fatal disease – have learned to make do with less.
The Global Fund contributed more than $89 million to battle malaria in Cambodia in 2012 and $98 million in 2013.
The entirety of dengue funds from all sources, meanwhile, stands at less than $2 million a year. …
In Cambodia, like in other poorer countries, cases are likely underreported because tracking hinges on the number of patients recorded by local hospitals. Anyone too weak to travel or unable to pay out of pocket medical fees won’t make the final count. …
Because of the way immunity develops, children are especially prone to contracting the disease. In the two Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospitals, 1,752 children were hospitalised with HDF in August alone, according to spokesman Dr Denis Laurent. …
When asked if he had enough funding to adequately address and prevent epidemics throughout the provinces, Chantha said he was thankful for existing funding efforts.
About $1.8 million a year is doled out by the government, Asian Development Bank and the World Bank, the two primary donors to the dengue program.
But if that scant funding can’t be sustained, Cambodia’s rates may well rise. …
Amelia Woodside and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/battling-dengue-shoestring
