Once a smuggling stop for Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge guerrillas, a Thai border town finds itself on the frontline of a new battle against drug-resistant strains of malaria that could frustrate global attempts to stamp out the disease.
The number of malaria cases in Burma has been reduced by 85 percent since 2012, and the country is now aiming to be a malaria-free country by 2030, according to Dr. Aung Thi of the National Malaria Elimination Project.
Health Lead Story News Rangoon
“From early 2017 to 9 July 2017, 2,855 people have been diagnosed with dengue fever and 18 died from the virus.”
The number of dengue fever cases in the first six months of this year was higher than the whole of 2016.
Multidrug-resistant malaria superbugs have taken hold in parts of Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, threatening to undermine progress against the disease, scientists said.
The first-line anti-malaria therapy used along the Thai-Burmese since 1994 is becoming increasingly ineffective in treating the disease, according to a new study.
Saw De De, a medic working with the Backpack mobile clinic, said outbreaks of cholera and dysentery have hit some 50 villages in the area.
Artemisinin, long considered to the miracle drug in the fight against malaria, is losing its grip on the disease – while the parasite grows in strength.
Thirty-seven persons in Burma have died of dengue fever so far this year, according to the Ministry of Health.
Development Health Lead Story News
Low investment, treatable diseases and increasing foreign interest in health system investment: a picture of healthcare in Burma.
A 22-year-old Burmese man, who was detained at Rangoon airport on suspicion of carrying the Ebola virus, has been cleared after a series of tests and will be free to go home within five days.
Analysis Ethnic issues Health Lead Story News
Although high-level negotiations are still underway, health services for tens of thousands of people living in territories controlled by the Karen National Union (KNU) are steadily improving.
Burma and Japan have agreed to step up cooperation on development projects, with a special focus on tackling HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in the poverty-stricken country, state media reported on Friday.
Leading scientists and health experts flagged the need for tougher political leadership and regional coordination in Asia to combat malaria, with the drug-resistant strain a particular worry
A drug-resistant strain of malaria has spread rapidly to the Thai-Burma border, raising concerns of an uncontrollable epidemic
World Health Organisation warns about growing resistance of mosquitoes to most effective anti-malarial drug
Jun 19, 2008 (AFP)‚ The World Health Organisation said on Tuesday that the health system in cyclone-battered Burma was "back on its feet," but warned that disease risks still remained.[…]
Jan 24, 2008 (AP), Hundreds of children under age 5 die from preventable diseases each day in military-ruled Burma, the second-worst mortality rate for children in Asia after Afghanistan, UN[…]
