Health problem is another major concerns in Thailand with respect to the
presence of a large size of migrant labour particularly those from Myanmar and Cambodia.
A surveillance report by the Department of Epidemeology in December 199918 found the
highest rate of illness among migrants and migrant labour was malaria. An average of 1,271
migrants was treated from malaria each month and the disease was found among 43.6% of
the migrant labour. Among the malaria affected foreign patients, 91% were Burmese. The
Ministry of Health thus signaled a warning that such a high rate of malaria among the
migrants could spread to Thais especially in the province where a large number of Burmese
migrants were residing. Furthermore, it was found that the malaria-affected rate among
newly entered labour migrants from Myanmar was around 20 to 40 percent.