PHNOM PENH - Cambodia is making significant progress towards achieving its self-imposed malaria-free goal by 2025, the country's Prime Minister Hun Manet said on Thursday.

In a message on National Malaria Day, Hun Manet said although malaria still plagues lives and has caused severe loss of productivity, adversely affecting public health and the social economies of the world and Cambodia, the kingdom has been on the right track to achieving its malaria-free goal by 2025.

"Cambodia recorded only 1,384 malaria cases in 2023, and no deaths from malaria have been reported since 2018," he said.

"In the context of peace, political stability, freedom, unity, and development throughout the country, we are moving closer to eradicating all forms of malaria by 2025," he added.

Hun Manet also appealed to the international community, donors, and people from all walks of life to continue assisting the Southeast Asian country to realize this malaria-free target.

Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease typically found in forest and mountainous provinces, especially during rainy seasons.

Huy Rekol, director of the National Center for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control, said malaria diagnostic tests and treatments have been highly effective in Cambodia, with Artesunate-Mefloquine, or ASMQ, being 100 percent safe and efficacious against malaria.