A Cambodian Doctor Who Spent 70 Years Fighting Malaria Wins Unsung Hero Award at COP28
- By Khorn Champa
- December 11, 2023 9:50 AM
PHNOM PENH – Dr. Yeang Chheang, who worked to combat malaria and dengue fever for seven decades in Cambodia, received the Unsung Hero Award at the United Nation Climate Change Conference in Dubai.
The award was presented on Dec. 3 at the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 2023 (COP28), which is taking place in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates.
Confered by the NGO Reaching the Last Mile (RLM), “[t]he Unsung Hero Award recognizes outstanding individuals who have sacrificed their physical and mental strength in their efforts to eliminate infectious diseases,” the NGO states at its website.
The award is part of the NGO’s Recognizing Excellence Around Champions of Health (REACH) awards. A biennial event, the REACH awards are held for the first time alongside COP.
Dr. Chheang is a former deputy director of the National Center for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control in Cambodia.
According to RLM, “Yeang Chheang has devoted seven decades of his life to fighting malaria and dengue in Cambodia, persevering through the Khmer Rouge regime and displaying an unwavering commitment to public health.”
Dr. Chheang helped initiate the first malaria eradication pilot project in Kratie province’s Snuol District in the 1960s and 1970s. Having held a number of senior roles, he had become chief of the malaria program technical bureau as the Khmer Rouge came into power in 1975.
When the Khmer Rouge were ousted from the country in Jan. 1979, Dr. Chheang went back to work and, with 12 others in the field who had survived the regime, he managed to secure $1.8 million from the World Health Organization to re-establish the National Malaria Control Program in the 1980s, RLM said at its website.
In the 1990s, Dr. Chheang became deputy director of the National Malaria Control Program, RLM said, “introducing the first insecticide-treated mosquito net program in Cambodia and later establishing the country’s National Dengue Control Program.”
According to RLM, “[i]n addition to his commitment to malaria eradication, Dr. Yeang has devoted his life to engaging and educating communities, as well as mentoring aspiring public health professionals.”
“Winning the REACH Unsung Hero Award is extremely exciting,” said Dr. Chheang according to RLM. “I would like to acknowledge and thank the jury committee for their selection of me, based on the work I’ve led throughout my life.”
Torn Chanritheara contributed to the story.
