Cambodia seeks China's help to eliminate malaria case by 2025

Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen on Tuesday asked China to help the country eliminate all malaria cases by 2025, a senior official said.

He made the suggestion during a meeting here with Li Bin, minister in charge of China's National Health and Family Planning Commission, according to Eang Sophalleth, an aide to the prime minister.

"The prime minister had requested Li to help Cambodia achieve the goal of zero malaria case by 2025," he told reporters after the meeting.

The Southeast Asian country launched in January a 142-million-U.S.-dollar, five-year plan to eliminate the death from malaria by 2020 and set the target to wipe out all malaria cases by 2025. The country reported 51,000 malaria cases in 2015, killing 10 people.

During the meeting, Hun Sen also highly valued health cooperation between Cambodia and China, saying that China's assistance was essential to improve the well-being of the Cambodian people.

For her part, Li said her visit to Cambodia was to further enhance bilateral relations in health sector.

She said earlier in the day that she and Cambodian health minister Mam Bunheng reached four Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs), focusing bilateral cooperation on combating infectious diseases, maternal and child care, capacity building, and medical research. Endit