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Embassy’s Political Officer Amy Canon (second from left) delivered 150 mosquito nets donated by the U.S. Government to the House of Emirates for Orphans in Phnom Penh.
U.S. Embassy Donates 150 Mosquito Nets to Muslim Orphanage
House of Emirates for Orphans, Phnom Penh
June 30, 2009
On June 30 the Embassy’s Political Officer Amy Canon delivered 150 mosquito nets donated by the U.S. Government to the House of Emirates for Orphans in Phnom Penh. Choruses of “thank you” echoed the prayer room as Ms. Canon handed each child a mosquito net.
The orphanage was founded in 2006 and houses approximately 150 boys, aged 6 to 16 years old, from different provinces and Muslim communities around Cambodia. During her visit to the orphanage Ms. Canon spoke with the children, asking them about their studies and their favorite activities. She also discussed the importance of hygiene, hand-washing, and staying healthy by using the mosquito nets.
Malaria, a mosquito-borne disease caused by a parasite, kills over one million people a year worldwide. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), health workers in the Mekong region on the Thai-Cambodian border are “struggling to contain a strain of malaria that is becoming increasingly resistant to artemisinin, the most effective drug available to fight the disease.” If these efforts fail, experts at the WHO fear that plans to eliminate malaria-related deaths will also fail.
Malaria is endemic in Cambodia but public education and outreach programs on the disease have assisted in halving the total number of reported malaria cases in Cambodia between 2003 and 2008, according to the National Centre for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control's annual report. According to the report there were 209 malaria-related deaths last year, down slightly from 241 deaths in 2007.
Moth Mostoeut, Director of House of Emirates for Orphans, thanked Ms. Canon for the donation and stated that previously the children lacked mosquito nets to protect against the risks of malaria and dengue fever. “We are very grateful. The children will really benefit from this.”
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