Malaria Consortium Cambodia wins award

Malaria Consortium Cambodia is delighted to have received the best e-poster discussion award for its integrated vector management for dengue control project at the 8th Asian Congress of Pediatric Infectious Diseases in Bangkok.

“The project’s integrated vector management approach proved to be a successful tool in reducing the larval and adult stages of Aedes mosquitoes, responsible for transmission of diseases like dengue, chikungunya and zika virus in Cambodia,” said senior technical officer and e-poster author John Hustedt. “We found an effective low-cost and home-grown solution which has potential to be applied for wide scale use in the country’s fight against dengue. The award acknowledges this achievement.”

Mr Hustedt was in Bangkok to address an audience of over 1,000 pharmacists, pediatricians and doctors at the Asian Congress of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, an event occurring every two years. The award honours outstanding achievements in most engaging e-poster discussions.

The discussion highlighted the successes of the project in offering a viable alternative for dengue control methods, including the use of guppy fish, biological controls and communication for behaviour change interventions. The level of acceptance among community members, volunteers and health centre staff is high. The project increased the community participation in dengue control activities. Communities that were part of the project reported less dengue cases. The discussion also touched upon the cost-effectiveness of the approach and evaluated the economic and disability costs averted as a result of it.

Findings will now be used to provide sound and evidence-based recommendations for the Ministry of Health and the National Dengue Control Programme (NDCP) in order to reduce the number of mosquitoes carrying the virus and to lower the burden of dengue in Cambodia.

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