Category: Cambodia

Dengue, for which there is no cure or vaccine, is one of the leading causes of hospitalisation and death among children in Asian and Latin American countries. Its incidence has grown dramatically around the world in the past 40 years.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the actual numbers of dengue cases are under-reported and many cases are misclassified, but despite this, evidence indicates a sharp increase in the number of cases in recent years. A number of factors have contributed to the rapid growth of dengue, including urbanisation, globalisation and climate change as well as a lack of effective mosquito control.

Cambodia is one of the countries in Asia that is considered an endemic area, where dengue cases have been identified every year since its first outbreak in 1963. A cumulative total of 3,543 cases were reported to the National Dengue Control Programme (NDCP) in 2014. For this reason, Malaria Consortium has begun implementing dengue projects in the country. Recently, Mr Ian Boulton, a Malaria Consortium Trustee, together with technical officers led by Dr. Jeffrey Hii, Malaria Consortium’s regional Senior Vector Control Specialist, visited the Tong Rong health centre and eight households in Kampong Cham province, Cambodia, to look into local methods of vector control.

Dr. Hii demonstrated an example of entomological monitoring using simple tools to collect live mosquito larvae and pupae. The team observed how sweep nets were used to collect live specimens in the cement water jars. These live specimens were transferred to white plastic pans to facilitate differentiation between mosquitoes and non-mosquito organisms, before transferring to plastic bags for species identification in the laboratory. This method of sampling attracted the attention of young children, women and men who were informed about the purpose of the visit and were told about the link between Aedes mosquitoes in water containers and dengue fever. What was impressive was that some households have reared guppies in the water containers; on average, a guppy can eat over a hundred larvae each day.

Although the use of guppy fish has been recognised as a low cost, sustainable and effective approach to reduce dengue vector populations and the risk of dengue transmission, it has some limitations. Aedes mosquito breeding is not limited to large water jars or cement tanks, but they also breed in other containers, where water can collect, such as flower vases, plant pot bases, discarded cans, coconut shells and tyres.  As a result, mosquito breeding and some dengue risk still persists. In order to reduce Aedes breeding and populations further, Malaria Consortium is currently implementing a project that will evaluate an alternative low-cost, sustainable and effective approach with other larvicides that can be used in combination with guppy fish.

Communication for Behavioural Impact (COMBI) has been included as part of dengue control efforts to create a supportive environment for behaviour change and make community participation a vital part of the project.

To drive and sustain these integrated vector control management strategies, Malaria Consortium Cambodia works together with National Centre for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control to provide dengue surveillance strengthening support and develop the Provincial Health Departments’ capacity to  detect any dengue outbreak and implement the responses.

Wanweena Tangsathianraphap is External Communications Officer for Asia

Dr. Jeffrey Hii demonstrated how to collect mosquito larvae.

Ian Boulton, Malaria Consortium Trustee, and Dr. Aranxta Roca, Malaria Consortium Asian Technical Director, used the pipette to transfer the larvae.

The team visited the guppy farm to investigate different breeds of guppy fish and their capacity to eat mosquito larvae.

Monica Posada is Malaria Consortium’s behaviour change communication (BCC) technical specialist for the Asia region. She recently visited Cambodia in order to conduct research into behaviour change communication strategies at cross-border sites in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS).

Malaria Consortium has conducted a behaviour change communications (BCC) assessment project in Cambodia to assess how effective these strategies are when it comes to improving health conditions, particularly among vulnerable groups.

Behaviour change communication strategies are used to help prevent the spread of diseases by encouraging positive behaviour within a community. By assessing current BCC methods, the intention is to provide recommendations as to how this approach can be improved in the region, and rolled out on a larger scale.

The assessment included a review of BCC strategies and guidelines in Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, and investigated how these are being implemented and targeted toward vulnerable groups. In particular, the assessment focused on BCC interventions among migrant and mobile populations, who travel and work along key border sites where there is a threat of spreading the artemisinin resistant malaria parasite.

A local family showing their hammocks and LLIN at their house in Battambang, Cambodia.

A research team conducted a seven day visit to the cross-border areas of Pailin and Battambang in order to conduct focus group discussions and in-depth interviews. More than 104 participants, including migrant populations, community leaders, community health workers, and NGO workers joined the study.

The interviews and discussions provided a chance to better understand the preventive and treatment-seeking behaviours of at-risk populations. For example, villagers were able to provide feedback on the quality and size of long lasting insecticidal nets and the barriers to treatment for malaria at the community healthcare centre.

The most interesting part of this study was to see that the chief of villages and village malaria workers had a considerable degree of trust among the local, migrant and mobile populations. The BCC approach, which relies on strong interpersonal communications and the discussion of best practices in preventing diseases, seems to be a very effective channel for health education.

Vanney Keo is a Malaria Consortium field assistant, who has been working in Cambodia.

I have been working for Malaria Consortium on a Regional Integrated Vector Management Project in Cambodia, where we have been collaborating closely with the National Dengue Control Programme (NDCP). At a project closing event in the Mongkol Borey district of Cambodia, many community members thanked me for my role in sharing best practices on how to prevent dengue fever. I thought then that I would share my experiences working on this project.

The purpose of the project was to develop community-based methods to improve prevention, recognition and reporting of dengue. The positive deviance (PD) focus of the project involved identifying community members who, despite sharing similar living conditions and resources as the rest of the community, already demonstrated positive behaviours for preventing dengue. These individuals were encouraged to share what they did to preserve their health with the rest of the community by becoming PD volunteers.

At the start of the project I helped to select 16 PD volunteers who were both willing and able to share methods for preventing dengue. This meant four volunteers for each selected village throughout the Banteay Meanchey province. As well as speaking at meetings and seminars, the volunteers visited each household in their allocated village at least twice a month. One benefit of using volunteers from the community to help raise awareness of disease prevention behaviours is that they are recognised in that community and can help to galvanise support for educational events.

It was my responsibility to schedule community meetings so that PD volunteers were able to give seminars on preventing dengue. Their prevention methods include advising individuals to sleep under a mosquito net, even during the daytime; always disposing of containers and cans which can accumulate water; keeping children away from areas with high concentrations of mosquitoes like the forest; wearing long-sleeve clothes, particularly in high-risk areas; using guppy fish in water containers to limit the growth of mosquito larvae; and highlighting the importance of cleanliness.

I kept in regular contact with the volunteers to ensure that their methods were being picked up by the community. By coordinating with the village members on a regular basis, I acted as a bridge between the volunteers and health specialists from NDCP and Malaria Consortium, and helped to monitor the changes in the behaviour of community members.

On one occasion, I helped to organise an event where the villagers were encouraged to create posters explaining the dengue prevention methods they had been taught by the PD volunteers.

One of our seminars was attended by the majority of community members across all four villages (Khtum Reay Keut, Anlong Thngan Keut, Bat Trang Thum Keut, and Bat Trang Touch). Competitions were organised in order to increase community participation, and involved quizzes for the community’s children, which aimed at increasing their understanding of dengue and the threat of mosquitoes.

Positive Deviance volunteers also used the opportunity of cross-community events to give speeches, encouraging community members to continue spreading the messages after the closing ceremony. One positive deviance volunteer said, “Now the households of our community are very clean, and I’m really happy that you have all followed our suggestions”.

These events, and the participation of community members, required the approval of respected leaders within the villages. This meant I frequently met with the village chiefs in order to provide updates on the project and to address any concerns. By the end of the project, I believe that we had successfully broken a cycle of dengue as all of the villagers were maintaining good standards of cleanliness in their home, and were always sleeping under a net. I’m confident these methods will continue now that the project has ended.