Social development

Exploration company Angkor Gold Corp is working with NGOs to educate residents of Pate commune’s Plang village in Ratanakiri’s Ou Ya Dav district after villagers refused to give the company permission to explore for gold on their land. ...

The Council of Ministers approved a draft law last week regulating and controlling organ donations and transplants in response to a World Health Organization (WHO) report which revealed that the lives of patients with non-communicable diseases like hypertension and diabetes could be further endangered following ...

In what appears to be part of a wider push to cut down on smoking in the Kingdom, cigarette companies will have to publish pictorial and text warnings that take up 55 percent of each packet by the end of July, according to the Ministry ...

The Ministry of Health has issued a set of guidelines calling on referral hospitals and health centres to provide increased documentation of their expenses with an aim of introducing more “transparency” to official spending.   ...

As soon as the clock struck seven in the morning, a commotion broke out in front of an old, yellow building inside the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital. More than 40 people flocked to the main metal door separating them from the waiting area and consultation rooms. Some ...

Allegations that acetic acid imported from Thailand is being used in recipes to replace lemon juice in Banteay Meanchey and Battambang provinces has caused an outcry on social media. ...

Political intimidation, the suppression of political expression and restrictions on freedom of assembly have Cambodia’s young democracy under threat, observers in the country say. ...

Amnesty International has designated four human rights officers and an election official who were jailed earlier this month as “prisoners of conscience” and will call on millions of members around the world to petition the government for their release.   ...

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.   ...

An opposition official in Kampot was arrested yesterday evening over his involvement in collecting thumbprints for a Royal petition calling for the release of detained human rights officials and politicians in the Kingdom. ...

Police who shut down a gathering of 30 people in a private home in Prey Veng province yesterday justified the action by saying the organisers had failed to notify the district governor in writing beforehand. ...

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.   ...

Malnutrition costs the Cambodian economy an estimated $266 million each year, according to a new report, which urged the government to invest more in tackling the problem.   ...

Gay and transgender people yesterday called on the government to legalise same-sex marriage and change identity cards to reflect a person’s true gender during an event to mark International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia. ...

The Cambodian Red Cross (CRC) donated $1 million to the Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospitals on Monday.   ...

Officials from provinces across the country gathered in Banteay Meanchey yesterday and the day before to learn about alternative community-based drug rehabilitation services and vocational training, anti-drug officials said.   ...

A quicker diagnosis and a shorter and cheaper course of treatment for multidrug-resistant TB patients in Cambodia could soon be on the horizon.   ...

The first outbreak of H5N1 this year was confirmed in Kampot province on May 10, health officials said yesterday. ...

In the lead-up to the upcoming elections, three provinces have been selected to participate in a three-year project designed to encourage women, first-time voters and the youth to actively participate in politics. ...

A UN spokesperson has rejected a government reading of a UN convention used to justify banning people with disabilities from performing in the streets. ...

Security forces including riot police were deployed to Phnom Penh’s Borei Keila neighborhood on Tuesday to keep a watchful eye over activists in the area, as rights groups, undeterred by arrests of eight protesters on “Black Monday,” began planning next week’s demonstration.   ...

Eight human rights officers and activists clad in black were arrested on Monday during “Black Monday” protests in Phnom Penh, the first in a campaign to free four fellow rights workers and an election official who were jailed late last month on charges widely believed ...

Cambodia is among 10 countries that achieved accelerated progress in maternal and child health – ahead of comparable countries – by meeting goals to reduce mortality among those population groups, according to a recent cross-country analysis by the WHO.   ...

As protesters were being arrested during peaceful demonstrations in Phnom Penh on Monday morning, the new chairman of the government’s human rights committee held a press conference to reassure the public that the country’s human rights situation was stable.   ...