Malaria death toll in Cambodia down 22% in 9 months

PHNOM PENH, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- Malaria had killed 64 Cambodians during the first nine months of this year, 22 percent decline from 82 deaths at the same period last year, said health officials on Tuesday.

From January to September this year, some 43,991 cases of malaria had been reported, up 15 percent from 38,321 cases during the same period last year, Char Meng Chuor, the director of the National Center for Malaria, said in a press briefing on the mosquito net distribution campaign on Tuesday.

He said that Cambodia is committed to eradicate the death of malaria by 2015. With this target, Cambodia needs the total budget of 131 million U.S. dollars.

Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease. In Cambodia, the disease is often found in rainy season and mostly happens in border provinces, forest and mountainous provinces.