Malaria statistics flawed

Cambodia's six-month malaria report may have jumped to erroneous conclusions, leaving officials yesterday to concede that mixed and matched figures from the past two years potentially created overly positive results.

Released on Saturday, the latest numbers from the National Malaria Centre show a drop in fatalities and a 20 per cent decline in documented cases from January to June over the same period in 2013.

But centre technical director Chum Vannarith said the comparison may merit a second consideration.

“The data compiled for last year seems to be for the first seven months of 2013, not the first six,” he said, adding that any “mistakes” will soon be checked and altered.

Vannarith maintained, however, that the five deaths and 15,982 cases recorded so far in 2014 still reflect a continuation of the positive trend. In 2010, 103,000 infections caused 151 deaths, but numbers have been dwindling since.