The death rate of tuberculosis went down to 0.5 percent in Cambodia this year, compared to 1.9 percent in 2005, medical official told Xinhua by phone here on Monday.

Meanwhile, the infection rate of the disease decreased to 18 percent in 2006 from 36 percent in 2005, said Mao Tan-Eng, director of the National Center for Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control, while quoting a nationwide survey.

During the survey conducted by the kingdom’s over 1,000 health service centers, 94 died out of 17,700 infected people among 100, 000 samples in 2006, and 700 died out of 36,000 infected people among 100,000 samples in 2005.

“This year, the TB death and infection rates are reduced ( compared to last year), because we have provided better health services, popularized relevant information through media promotion and community education, and conducted more vaccination across the country,” said Tan-Eng.

The government’s new strategy is to educate people about TB in pagodas and at schools because monks, teachers and school children are believed to be able to spread the knowledge about TB efficiently to friends and other people among their communities, he added.

As to the TB victims, the director said that they usually didn’ t want to see doctor when they had preliminary symptoms, which therefore deprived them of the chances to survive.

The kingdom plans to eradicate TB in 2010, he added.

According to the World Health Organization’s report in 2006, Cambodia is the world’s 22nd burden in the field of TB spread.

Approximately two-thirds of the 13 million Cambodians carry TB bacterium, while some 13,000 die of it annually, the report said.

Source: Xinhua