Social development

More than 600 villages, home to more than half a million people, have been declared “open-defecation free” as a result of a major program aimed at boosting the number of Cambodians who have access to hygienic toilets, according to Plan International. ...

National Police and National Military Police have been ordered by the Health Ministry to inspect the licenses of all private ambulances, which are often seen fighting for business at the scene of traffic accidents before charging exorbitant prices for their services. ...

More than 1,300 unlicensed medical clinics were shut down in 2015 and the remaining 900 will be closed in 2016, Health Minister Mam Bunheng said on Tuesday, ostensibly putting an end to lax medical standards that have allowed for scandals such as the mass HIV ...

Cambodian recruitment agencies are drawing up more extensive training programs for maids being sent to Malaysia following a lifting of a ban on the practice in December. ...

Phnom Penh Municipal Governor Pa Socheatvong yesterday lashed out at civil society groups he blamed for instigating protests aimed at destabilising the government. ...

An ethnic Kuoy land rights activist was detained by police in Preah Vihear province on Monday after taking part in an ongoing protest against three businesses that villagers claim encroached on their farmland, officials said. ...

Riot police and municipal security guards shunted a group of would-be mourners around Phnom Penh’s southern industrial precinct on Sunday morning as they attempted to mark the second anniversary of the day military police marched along Veng Sreng Boulevard firing assault rifles into crowds of ...

Cambodia has reported 15,015 dengue fever cases in the first 50 weeks of this year, a more than 300 percent rise from the 3,611 cases over the same period last year, according to figures released yesterday.  ...

Two newly discovered archaeological sites suggest people were living close to what is now Phnom Penh thousands of years before the capital was founded.Villagers living along the Mekong, and a monk at a pagoda, both in Kandal province, have discovered artefacts including Neolithic axes and ...

Despite recent high-profile cases of monastic child sex abuse, the organisers of a national conference for monks have left the issue off of the agenda, a move met with criticism yesterday by child protection advocates.At a press conference to launch the 24th congress of Buddhist ...

 In September 2015, a Facebook page bearing the name of Prime Minister Hun Sen notched up its millionth “like.” Until then, the long-serving Cambodian leader had denied ever using social media, making fun of political rivals, like opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who were active online. ...

More than 160 families in Kratie province’s Snuol district have alleged that the Memot Rubber Plantation company has been using excavators to clear their land. ...

Efforts are underway to recruit men and boys in the battle for gender equality in Cambodia, in an approach that experts hope will help prevent violence against women. ...

The Ministry of Heath on Monday ordered pharmacies to halt the sale of unapproved diet pill Mazeta Slim, a purportedly American drug that the ministry said actually likely originates in China. ...

Less than a week after a government minister said he could not say when long-awaited restrictions on smoking in public places would come into effect, one health official expressed confusion at the seemingly stalled progress, especially as compared to an overnight ban placed last year ...

“Cambodia Economy: The Bright Way to the Future,” written by Cambodia’s Minister of Education, Youths and Sport Ministry MoEYS, will be officially launched next Tuesday by the author, Dr. Hang Chuon Naron. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen, who lost an eye fighting for the Khmer Rouge during the April 1975 battle for Phnom Penh, is sick and tired of being called “a blind eye guy”. ...

Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen and his spouse, Samdach Bun Rany Hun Sen, this morning paid a visit to NGO Krousar Thmey in Phnom Penh, where he called for the public not discriminate people with disabilities. ...

Phnom Penh City Hall will build two new waste management sites in order to to alleviate traffic congestion exacerbated by the need to transport all of the city’s garbage to a single dump in Dangkao district, municipal governor Pa Socheatvong announced on his Facebook page ...

A lack of knowledge about sex is posing a risk to the health and education of adolescents, according to the Ministry of Education, which has created an online program to help better inform and equip the young people who make up 60 per cent of ...

The Japanese government Friday granted nearly $20,000 to repair and upgrade fascilities at schools in two provinces. ...

NGOs on Saturday aired their concerns about the possibility of a high school dropout rate, particularly in rural areas. The organizations said that government policies, lack of school facilities and unfavorable school environments are all factors leading young people to drop out. ...

Approximately 3 million students in 12,000 state schools across the country are at risk of drop-out or under-performance as a result of inadequate basic infrastructure, according to research by a coalition of civil society groups.The warnings came following a forum convened in the capital on ...

The number of mothers who died in labour has nearly halved over the past four years, down from 182 fatalities in 2011 to 100 this year, the ministry’s research commission into maternal mortality revealed yesterday.The dramatically reduced death rate was largely due to improvements in ...