"This is Asia's largest-ever distribution of mosquito nets. It will cover over 4,000 villages in 20 provinces in Cambodia," Steven Bjorge, malaria team leader at The World Health Organization (WHO) Cambodia. "The goal is to ensure that every person at risk of contracting malaria has a mosquito net by the end of the year." 

CAMBODIA (December 7, 2011)- As part of a Cambodian government led effort to provide insecticide-treated mosquito nets to millions of Cambodians, the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) is providing $4.5 million in funding and 2.7 million nets for distribution to villagers living in highly malaria endemic areas throughout 20 provinces of Cambodia.

Distribution of nets- occurring in two phases in November and December 2011- is organized by the National Malaria Control Centre (CNM) malaria fighting technical working group and was carried out in 45 operational districts. PFD played a major role during Phase One distribution, providing nets to villagers in Kratie and Stung Treng provinces.

PFD worked closely with Provincial Malaria Units, Village Health Volunteers, local health center staff, and village chiefs to distribute nets and to ensure delivery to the most at-risk groups (those living in endemic areas and mobile and migrant populations). PFD specifically provided technical assistance and financial support to the Provincial Malaria Units and participated in technical working group sessions.

During Phase One, PFD distributed 101,100 long lasting insecticide treated nets (LLINs), with the assistance of 200 Village Health Volunteers. PFD has continued working closely with Provincial Malaria Units, operational districts and health center staff to link net distribution with community-based health education campaigns.  Additionally, the CNM technical working group has been conducting a rapid assessment to evaluate the distribution process.

The roll out of nets is Cambodia’s largest ever, in an effort to eliminate malaria by 2025. Previously, distribution of nets in western provinces in 2009 saw a near immediate drop in malaria cases, according to Dr Steven Bjorge, who heads the malaria team at the Cambodia office of the World Health Organization, which is providing technical assistance. WHO figures showed that deaths in Cambodia from the mosquito-borne disease had halved between 2009 and 2010 to around 135.

As part of PFD’s $1 million grant awarded by the GFATM, Partners for Development, in collaboration with the Cambodian National Center for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control (CNM), works to distribute insecticide treated bed nets (ITNs) while conducting educational seminars to rural villagers on the benefits of utilizing ITNs. PFD works in close partnership with provincial health departments to bring four provinces of Cambodia to malaria pre-elimination status; to date PFD trained 278 village health volunteers to provide health education messages to communities throughout our target region.