Bureau for Vector-borne Diseases, Ministry of Public Health, Bangkok, Thailand.
Malar J. 2011 May 9;10:117. doi: 10.1186/1475-2875-10-117.
Population movements along the Thailand-Cambodia border, particularly among highly mobile and hard-to-access migrant groups from Cambodia and Myanmar, are assumed to play a key role in the spread of artemisinin resistance. Data on treatment-seeking behaviours, knowledge and perceptions about malaria, and use of preventive measures is lacking as characteristics of this population prevent them from being represented in routine surveillance and the lack of a sampling frame makes reliable surveys challenging.
A survey of migrant populations from Cambodia and Myanmar was implemented in five selected rural locations in Thailand along the Thai-Cambodian border using respondent driven sampling (RDS) to determine demographic characteristics of the population, migratory patterns, knowledge about malaria, and health-care -seeking behaviours.
The majority of migrants from Myanmar are long-term residents (98%) with no plans to move back to Myanmar, understand spoken Thai (77%) and can therefore benefit from health messages in Thai, have Thai health insurance (99%) and accessed public health services in Thailand (63%) for their last illness. In comparison, the majority of Cambodian migrants are short-term (72%). Of the short-term Cambodian migrants, 92% work in agriculture, 18% speak Thai, 3.4% have Thai health insurance, and the majority returned to Cambodia for treatment (45%), self-treated (11%), or did not seek treatment for their last illness (27%).
Most highly mobile migrants along the Thai-Cambodia border are not accessing health messages or health treatment in Thailand, increasing their risk of malaria and facilitating the spread of potentially resistant Plasmodium falciparum as they return to Cambodia to seek treatment. Reaching out to highly mobile migrants with health messaging they can understand and malaria diagnosis and treatment services they can access is imperative in the effort to contain the spread of artemisinin-resistant P. falciparum.
泰国-柬埔寨边境地区的人口流动，特别是来自柬埔寨和缅甸的高度流动和难以接触的移民群体，被认为在青蒿素耐药性传播中发挥了关键作用。由于这些人群的特点使他们无法在常规监测中得到代表，并且缺乏抽样框架，导致有关寻求治疗行为、疟疾知识和认知以及预防措施使用的数据缺乏。
使用 respondent driven sampling（RDS）在泰国与柬埔寨边境的五个选定农村地区对来自柬埔寨和缅甸的移民群体进行了一项调查，以确定人口的人口统计学特征、迁徙模式、对疟疾的认识以及卫生保健寻求行为。
大多数来自缅甸的移民是长期居民（98%），没有返回缅甸的计划，会说泰语（77%），因此可以受益于泰语健康信息，拥有泰国医疗保险（99%），并在泰国使用公共卫生服务（63%）来治疗上次的疾病。相比之下，大多数柬埔寨移民是短期的（72%）。在短期的柬埔寨移民中，92%从事农业工作，18%会说泰语，3.4%拥有泰国医疗保险，大多数人因疾病返回柬埔寨接受治疗（45%）、自行治疗（11%）或未对上次疾病进行治疗（27%）。
泰国-柬埔寨边境地区的大多数高度流动移民没有在泰国获取健康信息或接受治疗，这增加了他们患疟疾的风险，并在他们返回柬埔寨寻求治疗时促进了潜在耐药性疟原虫的传播。为高度流动的移民提供他们能够理解的健康信息和他们能够获得的疟疾诊断和治疗服务至关重要，这是遏制青蒿素耐药性疟原虫传播的努力的关键。
