Cambodia on Friday added the ninth H1N1 flu case to its growing roster of patients, claiming a US Embassy staff member had been infected with the virus.
The 35-year-old American was tested positive for the illness, sometimes called swine flu, on Thursday, following a trip to Thailand, health officials said.
Six of the nine positive cases in Cambodia have been American, though no one has died here from the disease, which has killed a reported 429 people so far worldwide.
“The patient is in a normal situation, and we will supervise him for at least seven days,” said Sok Touch, head of contagious disease control at the Ministry of Health.
The World Health Organization has recommended that all countries focus on serious cases of the disease, he said.
Cambodia is not on alert, he said, “but we must not be negligent,” adding that the disease can be fatal if a patient comes down with a coinciding illness.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
H1N1 Flu Found in US Embassy Staffer
Treating 4,000 diabetic patients in Cambodia, a high-prevalence but resource- limited setting: a 5-year study
Despite the worldwide increasing burden of diabetes, there has been no corresponding scale-up of treatment in developing countries and limited evidence of program effectiveness. In 2002, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health of Cambodia, Medecins Sans Frontieres initiated an outpatient program of subsidized diabetic care in two hospital-based chronic disease clinics in rural settings.
We aimed to describe the outcomes of newly and previously diagnosed diabetic patients enrolled from 2002 to 2008.
Methods: We calculated the mean and proportion of patients who met the recommended treatment targets, and the drop from baseline values for random blood glucose (RBG), hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), blood pressure (BP), and body mass index (BMI) at regular intervals. Analysis was restricted to patients notlost to follow-up.
We used the t test to compare baseline and subsequent paired values.
Results: Of 4404 patients enrolled, 2,872 (65%) were still in care at the time of the study, 24 (0.5%) had died, and 1,508 (34%) were lost to follow-up. Median age was 53 years, 2,905 (66%) were female and 4,350 (99%) had type 2 diabetes.
Median (interquartile range (IQR)) follow-up was 20 months (5 to 39.5 months). A total of 24% (51/210) of patients had a HbA1c concentration of <7% and 35% (709/1,995) had a RBG <145 mg/dl within 1 year.
There was a significant drop of 109 mg/dl (95% confidence interval (CI) 103.1 to 114.3) in mean RBG (P<0.001) and a drop of 2.7% (95% CI 2.3 to 3.0) in mean HbA1c (P<0.001) between baseline and month 6. In all, 45% (327/723) and 62% (373/605) of patients with systolic or diastolic hypertension at baseline, respectively, reached [less than or equal to]130/80 mm Hg within 1 year.
There was a drop of 13.5 mm Hg (95% CI 12.1 to 14.9) in mean systolic blood pressure (SBP) (P<0.001), and a drop of 11.7 mm Hg (95% CI 10.8 to 12.6) in mean diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (P<0.001) between baseline and month 6. Only 22% (90/401) patients with obesity at baseline lowered their BMI <27.5 kg/m^2 after 1 year.
Factors associated with loss to follow-up were male sex, age >60 years, living outside the province, normal BMI on admission, high RBG on last visit, and coming late for the last consultation.
Conclusions: Significant and clinically important improvements in glycemia and BP were observed, but a relatively low proportion of diabetic patients reached treatment targets. These results and the high loss to follow-up rate highlight the challenges of delivering diabetic care in rural, resource-limited settings.
Author: Marie-Eve RaguenaudPetros IsaakidisTony ReidSay ChyLim KeukyGemma ArellanoWim Van Damme
Credits/Source: BMC Medicine 2009, 7:33
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Cambodia Installs Over 500 Solar Energy Electricity
The UNDP (United Nations Development Program) and local organisations, so far, have cooperated each other to install more than 500 solar energy electricity generations at the rural areas of Cambodia, where the electricity is not able to access for everyday life in households, schools and referral hospitals, according to Khmer language newspaper Rasmei Kampuchea.
"The producing of the solar energy electricity does not affect the environment and global warming, and the solar energy electricity will be used for healthcare and education fields," Kong Pharith, president of Capacity Building Organization was quoted as saying. Capacity Building Organization is an expert for installing the solar energy system at the rural areas in the country.
"When we have electricity, our local students can access to use computers in their schools," he added.
Now, the local and international organisations are focusing on the installation of battery charging stations for people in the rural areas, he said, adding that price for charging battery will be reduced to 30 percent with support from the UNDP.
Cambodia has 30 percent of its population living in poverty. Most of them live in the rural areas, while 80 percent are farmers.