Last year’s devastating floods have prompted a massive donation of malaria medication to the Ministry of Health’s National Malaria Center.
Government officials received 1 million 50 mg tablets of Artesunate from the Cambodian Red Cross and the Cambodian Delegation of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in a handover ceremony on the outskirts of Phnom Penh Monday.
The preventative drugs are worth $126,265, according to Men Neary Sopheak, the director of the communications department at the Cambodian Red Cross.
The donation is part of a Red Cross campaign that began in September to bring relief to areas stricken by the floods. So far, $3.5 million has been spent on the effort, Men Neary Sopheak said.
“In flood areas, the disease is more likely to take place,” she said.
Flooding began in July, and peaked in September and October at the highest levels in 40 years. The government has estimated that the floods affected the lives of nearly 3 million people, leaving more than 1 million people in need of food, medicine and shelter.
The Cambodian Red Cross and the International Federation have been working together on a two-year project to prevent malaria in the countryside. Previously, 151,500 mosquito nets and carrier bags, and 19,550 liters of insecticide have been given to the National Malaria Center.
In March, the International Federation contributed $120,000 to the National Malaria Center to help fight an expected dengue fever epidemic.
