Priority health concerns
HIV/AIDS
Jobs or health: A Cambodian village's stark choice
In Roka commune, money is getting tight.After an HIV outbreak in 2014 saw 264 people infected in the small northwest Cambodian village, aid flowed in, showily. The prime minister’s wife delivered hundreds of kilos of rice, the health minister brought socks and sarongs, nongovernmental organizations ...
Abby Seiff
http://www.ucanews.com/news/jobs-or-health-a-cambodian-villages-stark-choice/74673
Mobile HIV testing targets riverside revelers
Following two strenuous days of races at the Water Festival this week, boatman Sgnoun Chai celebrated its conclusion on Wednesday with a night on the town. ...
Buth Kimsay and George Wright
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/mobile-hiv-testing-targets-riverside-revelers-101354/
U.N officers admires Cambodia’s success in the fight against HIV/AIDS
The United Nations has expressed admiration to Cambodia for having responded successfully to the spread of HIV/AIDS, reported the state news agency-AKP. According to an official report, Cambodia has currently over 700,000 people living with HIV/AIDS and some 500,000 of them are receiving antiretroviral treatment. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/un-officers-admires-cambodia%E2%80%99s-success-in-the-fight-against-hivaids-9057
After shock of HIV outbreak, facing the future
Som Saron has not worked since testing positive for HIV late last year. Taking care of her young niece at her parents’ home in Roka commune last week, the 37-year-old said that a fear of being stigmatized kept her from walking the community’s gravel roads selling ...
Khy Sovuthy and Anthony Jensen
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/after-shock-of-hiv-outbreak-facing-the-future-99077/
Researcher recognized for HIV, TB contribution
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. ...
Janelle Retka
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/researcher-recognized-for-hiv-tb-contribution-98183/
Face to face with Cambodia’s HIV fighters
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. ...
Giovanni Ortolani, Paola Di Bella
http://www.scidev.net/global/hiv-aids/multimedia/cambodia-hiv-fighters-drugs.html
HIV-infected villagers continue trial testimony
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. ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hiv-infected-villagers-continue-trial-testimony-98069/
Roka residents turn out for trial
An unlicensed doctor allegedly at the centre of a medical scandal that has seen almost 300 residents of Battambang province’s Roka village infected with HIV proclaimed his innocence during the first day of his highly anticipated trial yesterday. After the judge read the charges to ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/roka-residents-turn-out-trial
Cambodian health worker blamed in HIV spread will be tried next week
An unlicensed health worker charged in Cambodia with murder and other crimes after allegedly causing a mass HIV infection by treating patients with reused needles will be brought to trial next week, sources said. ...
Hum Chamroeum
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/tried-10152015165549.html
HIV patients in Cambodia’s Roka commune too weak to work
Patients living with HIV/AIDS in northwestern Cambodia’s Battambang province have called on the government for help in supporting their families as they are too weak to work, some nine months after an outbreak of HIV in the region saw more than 270 residents test positive ...
Hum Chamreoun
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/hiv-09082015131559.html
Study finds high HIV rate among men having sex with men
The infection rate of HIV has fallen sharply in Cambodia over the last five years, new statistics show, though the rate for men who have sex with men in the sex industry remains high. ...
Socheata Hean
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/study-finds-high-hiv-rate-among-men-having-sex-with-men/2915005.html
Officials meet to discuss HIV outbreak strategy
The first meeting to discuss a long-term strategy for dealing with last year’s freak outbreak of HIV in Battambang province’s Roka commune was held at the Council of Ministers building in Phnom Penh on Thursday, officials said. ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/officials-meet-to-discuss-hiv-outbreak-strategy-91112/
HIV/AIDS funding plummets, but risks remain
Foreign funding for HIV/AIDs programs took a sharp dive last year, as a lower rate of HIV infection among the general population led donors to declare victory over the disease. But the disease remains a threat, experts say. ...
Jonathan Cox
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/14096/hiv-aids-funding-plummets--but-risks-remain/
Mixed outcomes in HIV fight
While the rate of HIV infections has consistently plummeted among pregnant women, the number of homosexual, bisexual and transgender men with the disease has yet to be curbed by current intervention methods, according to findings revealed in a behavioural study on HIV prevalence, released yesterday. ...
Rebecca Moss and Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/mixed-outcomes-hiv-fight
Innovative program brings HIV testing to Cambodian communities
A community-based HIV testing program is the first of its kind in the region. While this peer-provided HIV counselling and testing has increased the number of people tested from key populations, it has not detected a significant number of new HIV cases. In 2014, there ...
Saya Oka
http://thediplomat.com/2015/07/innovative-program-brings-hiv-testing-to-cambodia/
Resident of HIV village dies at 76
Another HIV-positive resident of Battambang province’s Roka commune passed away this week, marking the latest fatality in a locale where hundreds have been infected with the virus. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/resident-hiv-village-dies-76
HIV village demands access to healthcare
Members of a community in Battambang where an unlicensed doctor allegedly infected more than 200 people with HIV earlier this year have demanded free general healthcare, a provision usually reserved only for the country’s most poor. ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/hiv-village-demands-access-healthcare
Two more test positive for HIV in Roka commune
Two more people have tested positive for HIV in Battambang province’s Roka commune this month, bringing the total number infected to 272 since an outbreak of the virus was first detected in December, a health official said Wednesday. ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/two-more-test-positive-for-hiv-in-roka-commune-82447/
Vaccination fears eased: gov’t
An education campaign launched by Cambodia’s National Immunization Program (NIP) in the aftermath of last year’s HIV outbreak in Battambang has been effective in dispelling the concerns of parents hesitant to get their children vaccinated, government health bodies and the World Health Organization have said. ...
Sarah Taguiam
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/vaccination-fears-eased-govt
HIV-positive commune official dies in Battambang
A deputy commune chief in Battambang province’s Roka commune, where an outbreak of HIV has infected nearly 250 villagers, died Monday. ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hiv-positive-commune-official-dies-in-battambang-81542/
Fears abound in HIV village
Three months after their community was shaken by a mass outbreak of HIV, support continues to pour in for residents of Battambang province’s Roka commune. But amid fears generated by the death of several elderly residents and the belief the funding could soon dry up, they ...
May Titthara and Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/fears-abound-hiv-village
Hun Sen acknowledges misstep over HIV outbreak
Prime Minister Hun Sen admitted Tuesday that he made an error in judgment when he doubted the veracity of a growing HIV outbreak in Battambang province’s Roka commune in December. ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-sen-acknowledges-misstep-over-hiv-outbreak-79466/
Sixth HIV-positive villager dies in Battambang
A 69-year-old man who was among the more than 240 villagers to test positive for HIV in Battambang province’s Roka commune died on Saturday, local health officials said Monday. ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/sixth-hiv-positive-villager-dies-in-battambang-79350/
Monks bless elderly sick in fearful HIV commune
Several elderly HIV-positive villagers in Battambang’s Roka commune are seriously ill, local authorities have said, with some of their families having called monks to bless them as they believe death may be imminent. Five people living in the commune have died since a massive HIV outbreak ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/monks-bless-elderly-sick-fearful-hiv-commune