Excellency, Prof Mam Bunheng, Minister of Health
Excellencies, Secretaries of State, Ministry of Health
Excellency, Kampong Speu Provincial Governor
Excellencies, Directors and government officials
Representatives from UNOPS and partners
Colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,
Today is a special day in malaria elimination in Cambodia, as we are here to kick off an innovative and targeted approach for the Last Mile of malaria elimination in the country.
As WHO Representative to Cambodia, I am excited to be back in Kampong Speu Province. I visited Kampong Speu in early October this year, together with Her Excellency Dr Or Vandine, the Secretary of State, who led the joint MOH-WHO missions on local preparedness for COVID-19 and ensuring essential health services in Cambodia.
During the field missions, we learned so much from Kampong Speu, not only on COVID-19 preparedness and response, but also on the ongoing intensive work of community-focused malaria elimination efforts in the middle of the pandemic. I am very impressed by the tremendous efforts made at the local, provincial and national levels for malaria elimination.
Within a week of the mission to Kampong Speu, together with my colleagues from WHO, I was able to visit the CNM to join the technical discussions and operational planning for the last mile of malaria elimination in Cambodia under the technical leadership of Dr Huy Rekol, CNM Director.
Together, we are creating a historical moment in our malaria elimination journey in Cambodia. I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to Excellencies from the Ministry of Health, Kampong Speu Provincial Government, the directors and colleagues from the CNM, the Kampong Speu Provincial Health Department, as well as all the governmental agencies and partners which have made this initiative possible.
My previous visits allowed me to meet village malaria workers, remote community leaders, and some of the villagers in the forest areas. I want to thank them all for providing me with the unique opportunity to learn from them and understand some of the real challenges that they have been facing. For this reason, I am very honoured to be part of today’s special event.
As H.E. Minister Prof Mam Bunheng reminded all of us, malaria elimination is our common goal, requiring collective actions. Cambodia’s Malaria Intensification Plan to Reach the Unreached builds on the country’s impressive progress in malaria control and elimination in the past years. The National Malaria Programme, supported by WHO, has been working closely with partners, communities and civil societies to ensure full implementation of the national strategic plan and deployment of more aggressive interventions for the Last Mile to Elimination.
Cambodia used to be the epicentre of malaria multidrug resistance. However, with the strong leadership of His Excellency Minister Mam Bunheng and the collective support from many partners, malaria morbidity and mortality have been drastically reduced over the last 10 years.
Cambodia is now on the path for elimination of all species of malaria by 2025 as laid out in the National Strategic Plan for Elimination of Malaria in Cambodia (2011-2025), which H.E. Samdech Prime Minister of Cambodia endorsed by in 2010.
We should not forget that we are still in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our common goal for COVID-19 preparedness and response is to minimize the health, social and economic impacts on the people of Cambodia. While we are responding to COVID-19, we must not lose our focus on other essential issues like malaria elimination.
Cambodia’s last mile approach provides an excellent example of how a country can manage an intensive response to malaria elimination during the pandemic. After reporting more than 3528 P. falciparum and mixed malaria cases in September 2017, Cambodia has recently reached historically low malaria incidence levels with only 72 P. falciparum and mixed cases reported in approximately 60 villages in September 2020.
Reducing cases from low to zero is challenging but not impossible, requiring additional effort and resources. Cambodia, being very close to the goal, can be the first country that eliminates P. falciparum malaria in the region, serving as a champion for malaria elimination in the Greater Mekong Subregion.
WHO is fully committed and will continue to work closely with many partners to provide essential technical, financial and operational support to Cambodia in achieving the malaria elimination goal. We are very pleased that the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has reprogrammed an additional $2 million to support the last mile of elimination of P. falciparum malaria.
Finally, I again want to congratulate the Royal Government of Cambodia, particularly the Ministry of Health and the National Malaria Program on the excellent progress on malaria elimination. I would like to thank our partners including the Global Fund, USAID, and the many civil society stakeholders which we work with.
I applaud all the frontline health workers for working with local communities and for providing life-saving services to the population.
Together, we are making a difference. Together, we can reach every person with malaria. Together we can eliminate malaria.
We look forward to a successful story from Cambodia in malaria elimination.
Thank you.