Making progress in terms of infectious diseases remains an important priority for the Region overall and as part of country efforts to achieve the global targets set by the SDGs including ending epidemics of major communicable diseases by 2030.
Communicable (infectious) diseases
Making progress in terms of infectious diseases remains an important priority for the Region overall and as part of country efforts to achieve the global targets set by the SDGs including ending epidemics of major communicable diseases by 2030.
Making progress in terms of infectious diseases therefore remains an important priority for the Region overall and as part of country efforts to achieve the global targets set by the SDGs including ending epidemics of major communicable diseases by 2030. Reporting on SDGs for infectious/communicable diseases includes HIV and TB as tracer conditions for the UHC index for coverage of essential health services and SDG targets 3.3.1-3.3.3 covering new HIV infections among adults 15-49 years old, TB incidence and malaria incidence respectively.
Sex-disaggregated data for new HIV infections and TB incidence is available via the WHO global data health repository for 7 and 25 countries respectively (169). Data on malaria disaggregated by sex is only available through another system and for only seven countries in the Region with four reporting no cases. In general, the data shows higher rates of new infections and or incidence among males compared to females with some exceptions. The limited data from countries for malaria makes gender analysis a challenge. However, studies have demonstrated a significant link between increased risk of malaria and regular work in the forest, which is traditionally a role performed by men. The 2010 Cambodia Malaria Survey found that male–female distribution of malaria infections was 69% to 31% (170).
