PHNOM PENH, 29 April 2008 (IRIN) - "Please sleep under the insecticide-treated nets," runs the message on a large banner erected for Malaria Day on 25 April. In Cambodia, that message is sinking in.

BANGKOK, 28 April 2008 (IRIN) - Thailand is widely recognised as a leader in the global struggle against malaria, announcing in 2005 a 50 percent drop in morbidity and mortality rates from 1998 figures, five years ahead of schedule.

KABUL, 28 April 2008 (IRIN) - Almost a month after the Afghan government launched a fresh effort to encourage the return of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) from the three largest IDP camps to their home provinces (mostly in the north), only about 130 families have opted to return, the Ministry of Refugees and Returnees Affairs (MoRRA) said.

KARACHI, 27 April 2008 (IRIN) - Outbreaks of malaria are being reported in various parts of the southern province of Sindh, with local people blaming the authorities for failing to carry out preventive measures, including the spraying of insecticide to kill mosquitoes during the pre-spring breeding season.

NEPALGUNJ, 27 April 2008 (IRIN) - Radha Biswokarma is ecstatic that the former Maoist rebels won a landslide victory in the historic Constituent Assembly (CA) elections held in Nepal on 10 April. “Finally, we will have a lot of Dalits in the government,” said Biswokarma, who, according to the Hindu caste system, is of low caste and known as a ‘Dalit’, meaning ‘untouchable’ or ‘outcast’.