Priority health concerns

Amid reports of the emergence of the Zika virus in Myanmar and the discovery of the first birth defect believed linked to the virus in Vietnam, two researchers with Phnom Penh’s Pasteur Institute have concluded that Cambodia is at high risk of its own Zika ...

It kills more Cambodians every year than malaria. More than dengue fever. It’s 100 percent preventable, but very little has been done to eradicate it. This year, Cambodia is finally taking on rabies—a killer virus most often transmitted to people through the saliva of biting dogs. A ...

Health Minister Mam Bun Heng has issued a directive for all private maternity clinics and hospitals to establish neo-natal intensive care units – which treat seriously ill newborns and premature infants – in order to further reduce maternal and child deaths in the Kingdom.​ ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen, speaking at the inauguration of a hospital in Phnom Penh yesterday, called on the Ministry of Health, the public and those who have recently travelled abroad to take precautionary measures to prevent Zika from reaching the Kingdom. ...

On the day 55-year-old Leangkim Theng was selected as a village health volunteer, she was not sure she could do it. The work required her to educate women on maternal and newborn health in Serei Sokha village of Kratie province. While she did not feel she ...

The government of Japan has agreed to provide a $134,526 grant to PH-Japan (PHJ) – a Japanese NGO working to improve Cambodia’s healthcare system – the embassy announced yesterday. According to an embassy press release, PHJ will use the money in Kampong Cham province, focusing on ...

The Health Ministry has ordered all provincial health departments to print leaflets about the Zika virus to distribute them throughout the Kingdom. According to a Facebook post on Monday by the Health Ministry’s Communicable Disease Control (CDC) Department, Health Ministry spokesman Ly Sovann said: “All people ...

The Ministry of Health is taking precautionary measures to prevent the transmission of Zika and is asking the public to do the same, as the virus has emerged in other Southeast Asian countries and could make a comeback in the Kingdom. ...

After reports of 24 more cases of the Zika virus in Singapore, bringing the total to 115 so far, the Ministry of Health has warned Cambodians traveling outside the country – especially pregnant women – to take extra safety precautions and avoid being bitten by ...

The research branch of the NGO Khana has argued in a new peer-reviewed study that livelihood programs for people living with HIV – which address recipients’ economic rather than medical needs – could be the key to significant improvements in quality of life for the ...

A new study has predicted that even if Cambodia manages to eradicate so-called “human” strains of malaria by 2025 – a key government goal – it will continue be at “high risk” of infections from a strain of the parasite more typically found in wild ...

Two dollars from the sale of every ticket to the Angkor temple complex will go to the Kantha Bopha hospitals in February 2017, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance yesterday. A letter sent to Dr. Beat Richner, the founder for the Kantha Bopha Children’s ...

The number of new HIV infections in Cambodia nearly doubled over the past decade—the greatest increase in Asia—while less than a third of Cambodians living with the virus are receiving medication to slow its development, according to a report released this week. ...

The garment industry is the linchpin of Cambodia’s economy, and the single biggest employer of women. Some 500 factories hire almost 500,000 female workers, many of whom are young and have migrated to the city from the countryside. ...

A prominent pediatrician announced on Sunday that the use of the Bacille Calmette-Huerin (BCG) vaccination for tuberculosis was not only ineffective, but could prolong suffering for children with the disease. Doctor Beat Richner, the founder of the Kantha Bopha Hospitals, took to Facebook on Sunday, ...

Health Ministry officials are warning that this year will see an increased rate of dengue fever across the country, as the cyclical virus has already shown higher than usual rates of infection, with Mondolkiri province seeing an acute spike in cases.   ...

A new study has found that there is a “substantial burden” of pediatric typhoid fever in rural communes in Cambodia. ...

Ministry of Health officials are investigating two suspected measles cases – one in Phnom Penh and another in Svay Rieng province.   ...

The vast majority of people undergoing treatment for HIV and AIDS in Cambodia reported suffering anxiety, according to a new quality of life survey.   ...

The number of dengue fever cases reported during the first 21 weeks of 2016 was double the same period last year and is expected to continue to rise in the coming months.   ...

The Kingdom’s most recent case of measles involves a one-year-old child in Phnom Penh, marking the virus’ third appearance in the country this year. ...

When the Cambodia National Assembly passed the 2016 national budget last December Cambodia’s public health system was not high on the list for additional resources, receiving a meager 8 per cent increase from the year prior, or $275 million. Admirably education received a boost of ...

The Phnom Penh health department has announced an investigation into the death of a newborn who allegedly choked while being fed by staff at the privately owned VIP Sorphea Maternity Hospital.   ...

Teachers at Toul Mead Primary School in Siem Reap province tell students to bring drinking water from home to keep them hydrated in the scorching heat. But water is increasingly hard to come by as the worst drought in decades drags on.   ...