Social development

Eating fortified rice increases the risk of hookworm infections, a study in Cambodian schoolchildren shows, suggesting that the rice’s added nutrients inadvertently help parasites grow. ...

A study of the Kingdom’s district health system has found it “unable to manage” non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension, which are estimated to be responsible for more than half of adult deaths.    ...

Amid fears that the Zika virus could jump to Southeast Asia after its rapid spread through South America, the Cambodian Ministry of Health has asked citizens to take precautions to avoid mosquito bites. In a press release sent Friday, the ministry urged people to wear ...

Efforts to empower women at a sub-national level are drastically under-funded, according to research released yesterday. ...

After almost 15 years working at various economic-related agencies, primarily the ministry of economy and finance, H.E. Hang Chuon Naron has been at the forefront of transforming Cambodia’s broken economy into one that is more open and competitive. Since 2013 he has been minister of ...

Human Rights Watch (HRW), long one of the most strident critics of Prime Minister Hun Sen and his ruling party, again slammed the government on Wednesday for its failure to uphold human rights in Cam­bodia, with the release of its World Report 2016. ...

Three months after the Health Ministry proclaimed Cambodia measles-free—after tests on a child suspected to be carrying the disease came back negative—it announced on Wednesday that a 7-month-old in Kompong Speu province has contracted the highly contagious virus. It is the first confirmed case in ...

Cambodia scored very poorly on a perceived corruption index, put out each year by Transparency International, but a government spokesman says the report doesn’t reflect the “effort” the government has put into combating the practice. ...

Cambodian democracy regressed last year, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2015 Democracy Index, which indicates that the Kingdom is “on the cusp of the ‘authoritarian regime’ category”. ...

A farm in Kompong Thom province that supplies Thai agro-industry giant Charoen Pokphand (CP) dumped the carcasses of 11,500 diseased chickens into an irrigation canal on Sunday, poisoning the waterway and endangering local livestock, according to officials. ...

Ahead of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s planned visit to Cambodia this week, local and international NGOs have urged Mr. Kerry not to sign any new bilateral agreements unless Cambodia vows to improve its human rights and democracy efforts. ...

In response to the Facebook comment of a medical student, Prime Minister Hun Sen has decided to lower the final exam fee for medical students from about $125 to $25. ...

The maker of a new tuk-tuk prototype retrofitted with a wheelchair ramp hopes to usher in a new era of wheelchair-friendly travel in Phnom Penh. ...

A disease expert in Cambodia said on Friday that although the Zika virus—which has recently been linked to birth defects and paralysis in South America—had circulated in Cambodia in the past, there had been no reported cases of the virus here for three years, though ...

Patrick Heuveline sat among villagers in Cambodia, showing them photos of his daughter to establish common ground with a group of people whose culture he had yet to fully understand.Heuveline, a UCLA sociology professor since 2007, has now spent about 15 years studying the effects ...

Each morning, Phan Kha drags her cart full of mussels through the streets of Phnom Penh. She pulls the cart up to 20 kilometers a day, and on a good day, she makes $10. ...

In a move to crack down on future illegal logging, the government has created a special Commission, led by human rights group Adhoc, which will review and cancel any licenses of companies that violate forestry laws. ...

The Cambodian government on Monday launched its first nationwide policy for child development, aiming to enhance education, promote social welfare and strengthen protection for children in the Kingdom. ...

In an effort to prepare more students for ASEAN integration, the Education Ministry plans to set up a program to give high school students access to student loans so they can continue their studies at university. ...

Thailand’s Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn will visit Cambodia next month to boost bilateral education ties between the kingdoms, a topic she has worked on since her first visit in 1992. ...

Each year, millions of dollars flow into the tourism hub of Siem Reap, the gateway city to Angkor Wat. Yet just outside of town, the effects of that economy are hardly felt at all. Out here, people struggle to make a living, and grinding poverty ...

The Kingdom’s first clinical skills and simulation laboratories were inaugurated yesterday at the University of Health Sciences in Phnom Penh along with computerised exam rooms – part of the public university’s strategic four-year plan launched in 2014. ...

Reacting to a spate of garment worker transport truck accidents in the past 12 months, including one on Tuesday that took four lives, the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) yesterday announced plans to provide truck drivers with road safety education, with the aim of having ...

Police have been deployed to guard a beleaguered Muslim school for young women in a predominantly Cham community in Tbong Khmum province, amid ongoing attacks against the facility by unknown assailants, and death threats against educators, officials said on Wednesday. ...