Daily Mosquito Net Distribution on Track

The procession of Land Cruisers bearing Cambodia Daily staff 
members to Chambak Commune deep in Kompong Speu province last 
Friday involved an unusual mission for a newspaper‹handing 
out anti-malaria mosquito nets to remote forest villagers.
Malaria is Cambodia¹s deadliest disease, and last week¹s 
visit was part of The Cambodia Daily¹s worldwide campaign to 
gather donations and distribute free mosquito nets treated 
with insecticide‹a prevention technique that is seen as the 
most effective way of stopping the spread of the disease.
A report released late last month by the Cambodian National 
Malaria Center (CNM) estimated that by the end of the past 
dry season, more than 50,000 people living in remote forest 
villages received free mosquito nets from government and NGO 
sources‹including The Cambodia Daily.
But the report goes on to say that for the distribution 
program to be effective, nets will be needed for an 
additional 450,000 people‹close to five percent of Cambodia¹s 
population‹who live in forest villages. 
Many of these people live in places that are as remote and 
inaccessible as Chambak, which lies several dozen kilometers 
due west of the main highway between Phnom Penh and 
Sihanoukville, in the midst of dense forest deep in the 
Kravanh mountains. Getting there involves a two-hour trek 
along a tortuous dirt road, with two river crossings at which 
the water level often reaches the hood of even the biggest 
four-wheel-drive vehicles.
During last week¹s visit by staff from The Cambodia Daily, a 
total of 430 family-sized nets worth $5 each were handed out. 
The Daily provided 380 of them, with the Lutheran World 
Service (LWS) contributing the remainder.
A ceremony coinciding with the distribution featured remarks 
by Daily Managing Editor Chris Fontaine, who told a crowd of 
several hundred people that ³we would like to launch an 
international campaign against this country¹s number one 
killer‹the mosquito. The mosquito, particularly the one that 
attacks in the darkness and causes malaria, unexpectedly 
strikes peace-loving, good people like you, and particularly 
children.
³One way to fight this killer, until drugs and other 
effective means can be harnessed, is by providing its victims 
with treated mosquito nets. Such nets cost only $5, and can 
protect a family of three or four while they are sleeping 
from attack and death.²
Also on hand during the ceremony were Kompong Speu Governor 
Uoch Proeung, Cambodian Undersecretary of State Mam Bun Heng 
and World Health Organization representative Dr Stefan Hoyer.
The Daily is launching a one-year campaign this week to 
collect donations and distribute nets to areas of the country 
where they are most badly needed. Updates about the campaign 
will appear regularly in the pages of The Daily, as well as 
on the newspaper¹s future Internet site.
³We will...launch a one-year campaign to raise funds to buy 
many more such nets for distribution to all areas that need 
them,² Fontaine added. ³We invite contributions from 
residents in Cambodia and from all over the world.²