Social development

Although the number of dengue fever cases in Cambodia nearly tripled during the first 17 weeks of 2016 compared to the same period last year, a health official said a vaccine for the mosquito-borne virus still needs to be vetted by the WHO before local ...

Health Ministry officials said that 43 percent of deaths in the Kingdom in 2014 were caused by non-communicable diseases, a figure which is expected to rise. ...

Police forcibly removed a dozen of the city’s homeless – four of them children – from the streets of central Phnom Penh yesterday, carting them off to the notorious Prey Speu Social Affairs Centre, where two people died last November. ...

Land rights activists from 10 communities in the capital yesterday submitted a request to City Hall requesting permission to march to the Anti-Corruption Unit’s headquarters and deliver a petition in support of human rights activists jailed this week. ...

Backed by the U.N., Cambodia on Wednesday launched a national action plan to completely eliminate hunger in the country by 2025, the first step in an ambitious initiative that the government signed on to last year. ...

The Minister of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries has announced a ban on all imported low-grade meat from neighboring countries as part of a national reform of the Kingdom’s meat industry. ...

Sisowath Chakreynupol, a prince from one of Cambodia’s royal families, has taken over the reins of the Cambodian Liberty Party, a recently started micro-party. ...

Cambodian journalists will visit the U.S. to observe the presidential election in November to learn from their American colleagues’ experience of covering the polls, a media development group has said. ...

An American horticulturalist is in Cambodia providing training in a unique farming method that proponents believe can improve food security in some of the country’s remotest regions.      ...

A baby was born at sea on Monday afternoon in Koh Kong province after a mother went in labor on a boat on her way to hospital. ...

Foreign diplomatic missions in Phnom Penh say they are closely watching the handling of the cases of human rights monitors and a national election official charged and jailed on Monday in connection with a sex scandal being prosecuted against an opposition leader.    ...

The information minister announced yesterday that the government is one step closer to establishing an access to information law, in response to demands for a more transparent and responsive government. ...

In an attempt to solve the water shortages plaguing schools across the country, the Minister for Education advised all schools to use money from their own budgets to buy water, despite some schools saying they do not have the funds to do so.   ...

Scientists are attaching tracking devices to a colony of flying foxes near Phnom Penh in a bid to prevent a possible outbreak of a deadly virus. ...

With the country grappling with drought and soaring temperatures, the Ministry of Education issued a directive on Monday cutting the amount of time students sit in sweltering classrooms for the remainder of the hot season. ...

Military police have identified the suspected leader of what they believe to be a sex trafficking ring masquerading as a masseuse-training agency as a 40-year-old businesswoman with Cambodian and Thai citizenship who owns karaoke parlors in both countries.   ...

Australians could help children in Cambodia receive an education and avoid the possibility of life in child sex trade by funding an innovative mobile centre.   ...

Members of civil society have called on the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport to increase the budget for development in schools by at least five percent to fix country-wide educational issues. ...

In recognition of this year’s World Malaria Day on Monday this week, the Health Minister reconfirmed Cambodia’s commitment to eliminate the disease by 2025 during a speech in Pailin on Monday. ...

If there is to be an end to the cycle of poverty that afflicts many Cambodians with disabilities, then most experts agree that stable employment will be one of the prerequisites. ...

From the 1970s to the 1990s, as many as 100,000 Cambodian refugees resettled in the United States. But far from finding a sanctuary, many Cambodians in America have grappled with poverty, mental health problems and social isolation. ...

Adhoc president Thun Saray on Tuesday defended his rights group’s pro-bono legal representation of the alleged mistress of deputy opposition leader Kem Sokha, who last week rescinded her denials of the affair and accused Adhoc staff of convincing her to lie. ...

A day after the ruling party filed a defamation complaint against one of the country’s most prominent political commentators, Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday defended limitations on freedom of speech as being necessary for peace and stability. ...

Rights group Adhoc has no plans to file a complaint against Khom Chandaraty, the alleged mistress of acting opposition president Kem Sokha, despite her accusing various members of encouraging her to give false testimony during police questioning earlier this month. ...