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Cambodia

Related pages: Cambodia and the International Health Partnership

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Image courtesy of Richard Lewis/Crown Copyright

On September 05 2007 Cambodia became one of seven "first wave" countries to join the International Health Partnership (IHP).

The IHP aims to improve the way that international agencies, donors and poor countries work together to develop and implement health plans, creating and improving health services for poor people and ultimately saving more lives.

Background

DFID’s Country Assistance Plan for Cambodia(263 kb) sets out the support DFID will provide from 2005-2008 to support the Royal Government of Cambodia's National Strategic Development Plan. It was produced as part of a four-donor partnership with the World Bank, the UN system, and Asian Development Bank, based on shared analysis and consultations.

Image courtesy of Ron Gluckman

As Cambodia receives significant external development resources our focus is on working with government and donors to achieve greater impact from those resources. In 2007/8 our assistance will total £13m. We plan to begin providing poverty reduction budget support in 2007 and to increase the share of assistance through budget support over time.

We will focus our assistance by reducing the number of projects and sectors DFID supports, and harmonise with others by channelling all our assistance through other development partners by 2011. The Country Assistance Plan focuses on four priority objectives:

• Contribute to a rapid increase in the impact of development resources
• Responsive, accountable and effective local government
• Support government and civil society to strengthen the livelihoods of poor people
• Increase access to heath services and information

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Country Facts

• Population: 14.08 million
• Poverty (No. of people living below $1 a day): 2.6 million (19%)
• $2 a day figure: 8.6 million (64%)
• Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita: $513
• Life expectancy: 57.4 years
• Literacy rates: 67.1%
• Malnutrition: 38%
• Maternal mortality: 472 per 100,000 live births
• Under five mortality: 83 per 1,000 births
• HIV prevalence: 0.9% (2006)

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What DFID is doing to help reach each Millennium Development Goal (MDG)

Poverty and hunger

DFID has been a significant funder of the Government’s ‘Seila’ Rural development programme. Four million of the poorest Cambodians in all 24 provinces have benefited from the construction of roads, bridges, schools, wells and other essential infrastructure as well as having a greater say in local decision making processes. We will provide £6 million for 2007-8 to support the follow on national programme.

Gender

Supporting a greater focus on the poor and excluded (including gender policy work) cuts across all our work.

Child mortality

DFID is co-financing the Health Sector Support Project (HSSP) with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank alongside the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the World Health Organisation (WHO). DFID's contribution is £15.4m from 2003 to 2007.

The Project supports the implementation of the Government's Health Sector Strategic Plan, which aims to strengthen health sector development to increase access to quality health services especially for mothers and children. Project components include: increasing the availability of essential health care services, support for equity funds to help the poor access health care and support to the Ministry of Health to plan, manage, finance and monitor progress in the sector.

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Maternal health

Reducing maternal mortality is a priority for DFID’s programme. In 2006 we launched a new £2.3 million programme to reduce the number of women dying from unsafe abortion.

DFID supports a £7.5m contribution to a social marketing programme through USAID. This aims to increase knowledge and use of condoms and other family planning methods as well as increase knowledge, awareness and supportive attitudes to help reduce high risk behaviour associated with HIV transmission;

Diseases

DFID is currently supporting a 5-year programme, worth £15.6m, to support the Government’s multi-sectoral response to HIV. This supports the Ministries of Health and Education Youth and Sport, the National AIDS Authority and previously the BBC World Service Trust for a mass media campaign. It supports initiatives such as HIV and AIDS education, prevention, testing, treatment, care and stigma reduction.

HIV/AIDS: The current programme of Social Marketing of Condoms aims to increase knowledge by Cambodian women and men on HIV/AIDS and improve access to quality condoms for high risk groups. The programme has been judged to have contributed to the reversal of the progress of the epidemic.

• See 'Talk Show Sensation - talking about sex in Cambodia'

Malaria: DFID provides $1.24m through HSSP to support the implementation of the national program to control and prevent malaria.

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Environmental sustainability

Image courtesy of Ron Gluckman

We are contributing £13 million to an innovative five year rural livelihoods programme managed by the Danish development agency Danida. This will strengthen the planning and sustainable use of natural resources (particularly land, fisheries and forests) as well as improving the livelihoods of some of the poorest people in Cambodia.

We are working with the Ministry of Rural Development to design a 3 year £1 million project to support improved leadership, management and financing of the sanitation sector. It aims to help the Ministry increase awareness of the benefits of improved sanitation increase demand for sanitation services, and develop a sanitation strategy and institutional framework.

Global partnership

We are championing new and innovative mechanisms to increase aid effectiveness and provide £650,000 to support the government to implement its harmonisation and alignment action plan. By 2011, we expect to work entirely through multilateral donors or through joint donor offices.

We are contributing £4.6 million to a World Bank programme to support the Royal Government’s efforts to enhance resource mobilisation and improve the effectiveness of resource allocation and delivery through the country’s public financial management systems and institutions.

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Links

• Foreign and Commonwealth Office in Cambodia
• UNICEF in Cambodia
• International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Cambodia

Last updated: 5 September 2007

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