Cambodia 'not dealing' with dengue fever

Cambodia is providing insufficient and under-funded health education to help prevent the spread of dengue fever, according to a new report.

The study, published by a member of the country's health ministry, Dr Sokrin Khan, in association with Australian researcher Professor Lenore Manderson, claimed that education programmes about the spread, prevention and treatment of the disease were not given a high enough priority.

It also cited problems relating to confusing information being provided to community members and a lack of time and training among health staff to allow them to deliver an effective educational message.

In their findings, published in the journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, the researchers claimed that stopping the spread of the disease "cannot occur where health education is poorly resourced and episodic, and where attention is not paid to the translation of knowledge to practice."

Between January and August of this year, an outbreak of dengue fever in Cambodia affected more than 34,000 people and resulted in 365 deaths.

The disease, spread by mosquitoes, is also found in Pakistan, with the Daily Times recently reporting that an outbreak of a dengue epidemic is still a possibility in the area around the city of Islamabad.

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