Mr. Yeang Chheang has devoted 70 years fighting malaria in Cambodia.  Malaria, known in Khmer as “Kroun Chanh” the “fever that defeats” has been an overwhelming burden on the country. In 1992 there were 500,000 cases and 5-10,000 deaths per year due to malaria, from a population of just 9.6 million at the time.  The disease is now on the cusp of elimination. Mr. Yeang was there from the beginning, and working through incredible difficulties has helped bring Cambodia to this remarkable stage.

After in-service training at the Institute de Biologie de Phnom Penh in 1953-1954, Mr. Yeang joined the Direction d’Eradication du paludisme, Cambodia. and helped initiate the first malaria eradication pilot project in the rubber plantations of Snoul in eastern Cambodia.  He rose through several regional directorships and became chief of the malaria program technical bureau in 1975.  That was the year the Khmer Rouge took over, evacuated the cities, and initiated 3 ½ years of terror that cost the lives of 2 million Cambodians, a quarter of the population.

Before the overthrow of then-Prince Norodom Sihanouk in 1970 and the subsequent take-over by the Khmer Rouge in April ’75 there were about 500 staff in the malaria program, conducting IRS, surveillance and treatment services.  When the Khmer Rouge were pushed back in ’79 only about 35 of the previous 500 staff could be located.  Mr. Yeang Chheang was able to survive, partly on his skills with traditional herbal medicines that he first learned from his grandmother.  He and a few other survivors re-established the National Malaria Program with only 12 staff.  Malaria continued to be a crushing burden through 1980s, with the isolation, funding and staff shortages exacerbated by the “K5 Plan” from ’84 to ’89 when large numbers of civilians were sent to the highly malarious western provinces to build defenses against the Khmer Rouge, resulting of trainloads of sick coming into Phnom Penh for malaria treatment. 

Mr. Yeang Chheang continued his commitment to malaria and vector control after the Peace Accords were signed in October 1991 and Cambodia reopened to the world. As Deputy Director, and later working for WHO, he introduced the first insecticide treated mosquito net program in Cambodia and helped create the National Dengue Control Program, managing the vector control division.  He managed programs and community engagement, trained and provided mentoring to countless. Mr. Yeang Chheang has devoted his life to the people of Cambodia and their struggles against malaria and vector-borne diseases.  Now, 70 years after he helped initiate the program, and enduring 20 years of war and genocide, malaria in Cambodia is about to be eliminated.