Cambodia Takes Measures Against HIV/AIDS

Specialists of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) Southeast Asia HIV and Development Project have warned that Cambodia still remains one of the world's most HIV/AIDS-affected countries. This is true despite the fact that the estimated prevalence among adults ages 15 to 49 has shown a steady decline from 3.9 percent in 1997 to 2.8 percent in 2001.

It is estimated that of the 11 million people in the country, there are about 200,000 people with HIV/AIDS, and this number is expected to grow quickly in the next five years. The epidemic is largely due to heterosexual intercourse, with men bringing infection from prostitutes to their wives, according to reports from the National AIDS Authority (NAA) and non-governmental (NGO) organizations in the country.

Two percent of Cambodian women who had blood tests and pregnancy checkups were infected with HIV/AIDS, and 4,000 babies had the virus. As many as 30,000 children have HIV, and about 200 children die of the disease annually, reports indicated. The NAA, joined by the UNDP Southeast Asia HIV and Development Project have studied the heavily affected areas along major highways, National Routes One and Five that link neighboring countries in the Greater Mekong Sub-region.

In response to the epidemic, the NAA was set up in 1999 to strengthen policy, consolidate structures and functions for response and to mobilize resources nationally and internationally. It plans to actively work on raising public awareness of HIV transmission, to educate local people, and to launch, with provincial authorities, the 100 percent condom use programs, which will be expanded to the public nationwide.

Cambodia has drafted a National Strategic Framework for a Comprehensive and Multi-sectoral Response to HIV/AIDS 2001-2005. The government has asked related departments to pay attention to increasing respect for the rights and status of women and girls, as well as encouraging men and boys to engage in safer sexual behavior.

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