There were over 80,000 malaria cases resulting in 300 deaths in the Cambodia last year, compared with 50,000 cases and 200 deaths in 2008, the Phnom Penh Post quoted Dr. Duong Socheat, director of the National Center for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control (CNM) as saying.

The increase in the malaria cases was caused by the increased rainfall as well by the fact that more people had been exposed to malaria-carrying mosquitoes as a growing number of soldiers and construction workers were deployed to high-risk forested areas in Ratanakiri, Mondulkiri, Stung Treng, Kratie, Kampong Cham, and Koh Kong provinces, he added.

The CNM had been successful in decreasing the spread of malaria by about 60 or 70 percent in the eight years from 2000 to 2008, and he was optimistic about the success of a national campaign aimed at completely eliminating malaria deaths by 2020, said Dr. Duong Socheat.

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