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Cambodia Fast Facts Header

73.5% of women are employed in Cambodia, mostly in agriculture where they are more than half the labor force. They also make up 90% of the workers in the garment industry, a small part of the economy. 82% of employed women are illiterate or have less than a primary education.

The nutritional situation for women is the worst in Southeast Asia, and 41% of pregnant women are underweight and perhaps anemic.

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Country Snapshot: Cambodia and Health

Women and children.
HIV/AIDS prevention programs targeted at military men benefit their wives and children as well.

USAID/Cambodia supports important health initiatives, including curbing the spread of infectious diseases, especially HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, and improving maternal health to reduce one of the highest maternal mortality rates in Asia and the most serious HIV/AIDS epidemic in the region.

Educating Vulnerable Women

HIV/AIDS prevention and care and reproductive health interventions target vulnerable and potentially vulnerable women such as prostitutes and women who work in the garment industry. The latter generally come to the capital city from rural areas and often are vulnerable to engaging in high-risk behaviors for HIV infection. In the extreme, they may turn to prostitution during economic downturns. USAID's health strategy focuses on educating vulnerable women about the risks they face, building skills to help women reduce their risk, and making available the commodities necessary to help prevent HIV transmission and unwanted pregnancies.

HIV/AIDS Prevention Programs

The wives of men in the military are the beneficiaries of USAID's HIV/AIDS prevention programs. USAID now reaches 85% of military men with HIV/AIDS prevention through peer education, care and treatment in the military hospital system. Documented changes in risk behaviors among these men serve not only to protect them but also to protect their wives. The addition of direct HIV/AIDS prevention implementation with military wives will increase the overall positive impact on these women.

Women's and Veterans' Affairs Gender and HIV/AIDS Working Group

USAID is providing technical assistance to Cambodian Government agencies to minimize stigma and discrimination and increase gender equality. USAID supports the Ministry of Women's and Veterans' Affairs Gender and HIV/AIDS Working Group. This group is establishing networks with key partners and helping bring gender issues to the forefront of the HIV/AIDS policies, programs, and strategies of other government ministries and the nation as a whole.

Family Planning Program

USAID is providing support for maternal and child health and reproductive health, including family planning through government and non-governmental organizations in Cambodia. Since 1999, USAID has supported a life saving skills (LSS) training program to strengthen the midwifery skill of female health providers to provide safe and clean deliveries. As a result, 508 midwives have been trained in LSS and 34 percent of deliveries attended by trained providers.

Cambodia Program Objectives

Education
Anti-trafficking
Democracy
Governance
Human Rights
Health

SELECTED ACTIVITIES:

Women for Prosperity
Women's Media Center
National Women's Leadership Caucus
International Visitors Programs
Human Rights Organizations
Ministry of Women's and Veterans' Affairs
Cambodian Defenders Project
International Justice Mission
Shelter Support
Mith Samlanh Program
Educating Vulnerable Women
HIV/AIDS Prevention Programs
Women's and Veterans' Affairs' Gender and HIV/AIDS Working Group
Family Planning Program

Visit USAID/Cambodia link to the Mission
Global Snapshots: Cambodia Homepage

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:10:30 -0500
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