Social development

Baby formula companies are pushing their products in clinics and on health care professionals—some with great effect—despite a government ban on such acts and extensive research showing that formula is an inferior alternative to mother’s milk. ...

Cambodia has been named among states accused of using counter-terrorism measures to clamp down on human rights and civil society in a report released this week by the United Nations’ special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism.Speaking in New York on Monday, the British rapporteur ...

The percentage of smokers over the age of 15 has dropped from 19.5 percent in 2011 to 16.9 percent last year, according to the National Adult Tobacco Survey which was released yesterday by the National Institute of Statistics. ...

Defense Minister Tea Banh says Cambodia’s soldiers should have the right to support demonstrations.Speaking at the airport as he waited for Prime Minister Hun Sen to arrive from an official visit to France, Tea Banh said his troops have a right to “express their opinion.” ...

Young Cambodians will be urged to consider a career in the fields of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM), through a joint initiative launched yesterday by the Ministry of Education, the British Embassy and the international employment and training organisation IDP Education.​ ...

UNICEF yesterday awarded $400,000 to six NGOs to work with disabled people around the country through a series of community based programs. ...

A doctor who had been accused of causing a woman to die in labour because he abandoned her during childbirth to go to a party had charges against him dropped by the Court of Appeal on Monday. ...

Cambodia will join three other regional countries in carrying out standardized testing for grade five students as part of a pilot program that aims to improve primary school education in Asean, officials said this week. ...

In efforts to improve conditions for its disabled citizens, the government yesterday announced that it plans to order the installation of ramps and access signs at all public places. ...

Following the eviction earlier this month of about 1,000 mostly Vietnamese families living in floating homes in Kompong Chhnang City, provincial authorities now have plans to evict a further 1,500 mostly Cambodian families living further south on the river, officials said Sunday. ...

The United Nations’ human rights agency in Geneva has urged Cambodia to abide by its obligations not to forcibly return 13 Montagnard refugees to Vietnam and to register the claims of hundreds more asylum seekers living in limbo in Phnom Penh. ...

Police arrested 36 men and one woman on Saturday in the latest raid on Phnom Penh’s Trapaing Chhouk slum, a cluster of shanties above a fetid pond in Sen Sok district where crystal methamphetamine use and distribution are rampant. ...

A coalition of government ministries, the United Nations and international non-governmental organizations launched a new campaign yesterday to combat violence against women.​ ...

A Cambodian medical research­er has received international rec­ognition for a presentation on de­velopments in the treatment of pa­tients infected with both HIV and tuberculosis at a conference in France last week. ...

A team of security officials led by a commune chief descended on a private home in rural Koh Kong province on Friday morning to prevent a group of students and ac­tivists from holding a democracy training session, an activist and officials said. ...

Cambodia’s efforts in HIV prevention and treatment have shown significant results in the past ten years and the government is now setting the bar even higher. Last December, Prime Minister Hun Sen committed to stopping new HIV infections by 2020. ...

More than 20 HIV-infected villagers provided testimony during the third day of the trial of an unlicensed medic—accused of infecting more than 270 people with the virus—at the Battambang Provincial Court on Thursday, a court official said. ...

Top-scoring candidates from this year’s grade 12 national exam will be given free passes to train as pre-school and primary teachers in an effort to improve the quality of the education system.Prime Minister Hun Sen approved a request from Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron to ...

The number of dengue fever cases in Cambodia has skyrocketed, with children hit hardest by the killer disease, according to new government figures.Incidences of dengue leapt by more than 300 per cent to 11,828 cases between January and September this year, compared to just 2,853 ...

After graduating from Setec Institute in Phnom Penh in 2014 with a degree in information technology, Chhit Chanmony, 23, is confident in her ability to build a website using various scripts. ...

The investigating judge involved in ongoing legal proceedings against human rights activist Ny Chakrya has said a warrant for the man’s arrest is under consideration after Chakrya failed to respond to a subpoena to appear in court yesterday. However, Chakrya’s employer, rights group Adhoc, said ...

The arrest on Saturday of a registered British sex offender, employed at a Phnom Penh school for the past year, has cast doubt on the screening of foreign nationals working with children in Cambodia.With wanted sex offender Paul Prestige’s extradition pending, the British Embassy yesterday ...

An aggressive marketing campaign for a New Zealand brand of breast milk substitute – including giveaways to new parents in a hospital – has been condemned as “appalling” and “completely illegal” by a body that monitors Cambodia’s strict rules on the marketing of formula milk. ...

The government yesterday slightly lowered its growth forecast for this year – from 7 to 6.9 percent – citing slowing growth in China and Europe as well as the appreciation of the US dollar as the reasons for the cut. ...