The Hiv/Aids Epidemic in Cambodia

Under the economic boom conditions following the Paris Accords of 1991 and the return to peace in Cambodia, a series of high risk situations for HIV transmission were formed, based on an extensive commercial sex industry, in which HIV prevalence levels quickly rose. HIV has since spread widely in the country and it now has presently the highest HIV prevalence in Asia, estimated to be between 3 and 4% of young adults - over 160,000 people infected. Two main approaches are reflected in the Government Strategic Plan : directly targeted interventions in high risk situations to reduce the risk of transmission; and IEC and life skills prevention to reduce the likelihood of transmission. In the future, the response will have to expand to address the long term effects of the epidemic : caring for large numbers of people ill as a result of HIV infection; dealing with the hardship and poverty created by the increase in young adult morbidity and mortality; and with the special needs arising from affected households

Development economics · Economic growth · Economics · Environmental health · Poverty · Psychological intervention · Sociology · Cambodian History and Society · Demography · HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk · Medicine · Sex work and related issues · Virology