Siem Pang

Stung Treng is a province of over 110,000 people in the northeast of Cambodia bisected by the Mekong River and bordering Laos. Malaria is endemic in many rural areas of the province. In 2017, in partnership with the Cambodian National Centre for Parasitology, Entomology, and Malaria Control (CNM) MORU established a research station at Siem Pang health centre. The site features a study ward, offices, accommodation, and laboratory facilities.

Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Triple Artemisinin Combination Therapy Cambodia-Vietnam (TACT-CV) study (2017-20) is recruiting uncomplicated malaria patients from nearby villages to evaluate new antimalarial treatments. The Principal Investigator is Professor Arjen Dondorp, and the study in Cambodia is coordinated for MORU by Rupam Tripura, James Callery, Thomas Peto, and Professor Lorenz von Seidlein.

Epidemiological studies in nearby villages map malaria and look at transmission patterns and understand forest-acquired malaria in collaboration with Professor Richard Maude, head of MORU Epidemiology.

Public engagement activities provide health education in rural communities are coordinated by Nou Sanann and Pich Kunthea in collaboration with Professor Phaik Yeong Cheah, Head of MORU Bioethics.