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The Cambodian government on Monday launched a Media Guide on HIV/AIDS, asking journalists to help enhance publicity and awareness of the epidemic in the country.

“Media plays significant role in the HIV/AIDS program and is also a key player in disseminating true information about HIV/AIDS and changing attitude of the community toward the most vulnerable victims,” Hong Sun Huot, president of the National AIDS Authority (NAA), said at the launching ceremony.

The 186-page Guide has 21 sections, including facts and data about HIV/AIDS in Cambodia and in the world; HIV/AIDS and the media; the impact on children and young people; exploring the role of men and older people in the epidemic; HIV testing and counseling; treatment and care as well as the targets of the next 10 years.

“We need to expand media coverage rather than to cause restrain to the effort,” he added.

A formal survey in 2003 indicated that Cambodia has 123,000 HIV carriers, which is equivalent to 1.9 percent of all adult aged between 15 and 49.

An Ministry of Health’s estimate shows an increase rate of transmission from husband to wife among new cases.

“The rising scale and pace of AIDS epidemic in the rural areas throughout the country sparks an increasing concern, particularly the spread of AIDS to housewives and its transmission to their children, which remains the most prevalent in Cambodia against the overall trend in Southeast Asia,” said Hong Sun Huot.

He called on national and international journalists to help enhance people’s awareness in order to protect their families, society and the whole nation from HIV epidemic.

Cambodia diagnosed the first case of HIV in 1993, and HIV prevalence once rose to as high as 3.7 percent of the adult population in 1997.

The country has made much effort in response to the epidemic. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan underlined in last June that “The world has witnessed successes of preventive and prophylaxis program such as in Brazil, Cambodia and Thailand.”

Source: Xinhua

Malaria is carried by mosquitoes

Britons travelling to exotic locations are being warned of the risks of contracting potentially fatal malaria by health experts. The number of travellers to malarial areas has soared by around 150% over the last decade.

But people are not taking anti-malaria tablets, putting themselves at risk, the Health Protection Agency said.

Last year, three people died after 26 travellers to The Gambia contracted the most serious type of the condition.

The HPA is warning that nine out of 10 Britons who contract malaria are carrying this form of the disease - plasmodium falciparum.

Latest figures show that of the 1,722 Britons with malaria in 2003, 1,339 had plasmodium falciparum - 78% of cases, up from 17% if cases in 1977.

That year saw 16 people die from malaria, up from nine the year before.

With the number of people being killed, it is so important to remember to take the treatment prescribed by the doctors HPA spokeswoman

The increasing trend of taking a break in a far-flung destination or heading of for a last-minute holiday is leading to people not thinking about malaria tablets, or forgetting to complete the whole course, the HPA said.

Travel to India has more than doubled over the last decade, and more holidaymakers are heading for destinations such as Cambodia, Thailand, the Middle East and Vietnam, according to the Association of British Travel Agents.

An HPA spokeswoman said: “It’s not so much complacency, it’s people thinking they won’t need malaria tablets for what they see as a normal holiday.

“The indication is that, the number of cases is decreasing but the fatality rate is increasing.

“The message would be that, with the number of people being killed, it is so important to remember to take the treatment prescribed by the doctors.”

She added: “A lot of people forget once they come back that they need to continue to go through the whole dose.

“In addition, people visiting friends and family who may originate from an area where malaria is present may wrongly think they are immune.”

Travellers visiting malarial areas are being advised to visit their doctor or travel clinic before they go abroad to get advice on the best anti-malarial measures.

Once abroad they should use insect repellent, keep arms feet and legs covered and sleep under mosquito netting if outside.

Early signs of malarial infection include fever, a flu-like illness, shaking, muscle ache and tiredness.

By Claudia Blume
Hong Kong
14 May 2006 (VOA)
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Families around the world celebrate Mother’s Day Sunday. But being a mother can be difficult in the developing countries of Asia, where many children die soon after their birth, or before they reach the age of five.

In developing countries, childbirth is often a life and death struggle for both mothers and children.

The charity, Save the Children, says more than four million infants worldwide die in their first month of life each year, mostly due to infections. A third of the deaths occur in Southeast Asia. South Asia has the highest rates of newborn deaths in the world, next to Africa. In Afghanistan and Pakistan, for example, up to six percent of infants die in their first month.

Many women also do not survive complications during pregnancy and childbirth.

Amy Weissman, a health expert for Save the Children in Vietnam, says the mothers most at risk are young, uneducated women who give birth at home, without the help of skilled professionals.

“The things that really make a difference around a woman’s survival are her level of education, her access to quality health care and her use of modern family planning,” said Weissman. “So, those things really need to be in place for a woman and her child to survive and thrive.”

Children who survive the first few weeks are still at risk in many developing countries of Asia.

The World Health Organization says about 3,000 children under the age of five die each day in the western Pacific region. Most of the countries with a high child mortality rate spend less than five percent of their gross domestic product on health.

Marianna Trias, advisor on child health at the WHO regional office in Manila, says common diseases, such as pneumonia and diarrhea, cause most childhood deaths. In some countries, Laos and Cambodia, for instance, malaria is a major killer.

She says tools that can save children’s lives, such as immunizations, nutritional supplements and insecticide-treated bed nets, are well known and inexpensive.

“But what is needed is the infrastructure, the human resources and financial resources to put this all in place and deliver the life-saving interventions through the health system,” explained Trias.

Trias says some countries in the region have made good progress in recent years on reducing the number of childhood deaths. They include China, Mongolia, Vietnam and the Philippines, where governments have implemented plans to improve child and maternal health.

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U.N. officials say the world must do a great deal more to meet the goal of halving the rate of undernourishment among children. Nevertheless, a report by the U.N. Children’s Fund, says some countries, particularly China, are succeeding.

Healthy Chinese baby munches on apple

The regional nutrition representative of the U.N. Children Fund, Karen Codling, says UNICEF’s report shows the world has made little progress toward reducing undernutrition among young children.

“It (the report) shows that overall in the world, we have only reduced child underweight by five percentage points since 1990,” she explained. “It means that the world is not on track to achieve the World Millennium Development Goals for hunger and poverty.”

The 1990 goals seek to improve significantly the lives of the world’s poor by 2015. One of those goals is to cut in half the rate of poor nutrition among children younger than five years of age.

Codling says Asia on average is on track to meet the goal on child nutrition - but this is largely due to the performance of China, which has halved its proportion of malnourished children, from 19 percent to eight percent.

She attributes China’s success to its growing economy, government efforts to reduce poverty, and generalized access to education.

But she notes that seven million Chinese children are still undernourished, and she says China’s overall success hides high malnutrition rates among children in its rural areas and among its ethnic minorities.

Studies show that inadequate nutrition causes more than half of the world’s deaths in children under five. Experts say because nutrition is related to many different aspects of poverty, it is a significant barometer for the Millennium Development Goals.

Codling of UNICEF says China’s success notwithstanding, many Asian nations will fail to meet their child nutrition goals.

The UNICEF report says are most of the nations of Southeast Asia are not on track to halve their rates in the next nine years. Cambodia and East Timor report that nearly one-half of the children under five years are undernourished. Laos, Burma and the Philippines have shown some progress, but they, too, will have a difficult time meeting the goal.

The report says Vietnam and Indonesia are on course to meet the goals, but that certain groups in these large countries lag far behind the national averages.

The nations of South Asia, which are home to more than half the world’s undernourished children, are not on course to meet the nutrition goals.

Codling says governments emphasize economic growth and some social services. But they place less emphasis on areas that are known to improve child nutrition levels, such as preventive health care and woman’s education.

“The lack of progress is related to the fact that nutrition very often falls through the cracks,” she said. “Many people will say that nutrition is an issue for everybody, but the responsibility of nobody.”

UNICEF advocates raising nutrition issues on government agendas, using success stories like China’s as models, and focusing nutrition efforts on mothers-to-be and children under two-years old.