Pediatric AIDS in Cambodia

Cambodia has the highest HIV prevalence rate in Southeast Asia, with an identified infected population of 64,750, including 3350 children under the age of fifteen. According to Mean Chhi Vun, the Director of the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology and STDs (NCHADS), in 2008 approximately 2900 of these infected children were receiving ARV treatment, an increase from 1800 in 2007. However, NCHADS estimates that as many as 109,000 children could be orphaned by HIV/AIDS by 2011. The largest portion of the population infected are direct and indirect female sex workers, and according to a UNAIDS report, one-third of new HIV cases are due to mother-to-child transmission(MTCT).

There are an estimated 461,000 live births annually in Cambodia -- predominantly outside of health centers and hospitals -- and an estimated 9,700 pregnant women are living with HIV at any one time, of whom only approximately twelve percent are receiving ARV treatment. UNAIDS data indicates that without intervention, some 3000 infants may be born with HIV through vertical transmission each year.

 

 

The Ministry of Health’s national response primarily recognizes that the loss of young, productive adult males has a severe socio-economic impact upon poor rural house holds, in which males are the primary source of income and labor. In Cambodia’s situation, where the majority of the population survives on subsistence farming, the impact is enormous, as informal estimates from NCHADS suggest that HIV/AIDS may be responsible for 50% of all deaths among young men between the ages of 20 and 30. As such, Cambodia’s National Strategic Plan for a Multisectoral Response to HIV/AIDS for 2006-2010 (NSP II) lacks a specific strategy for combating the rapid spread of pediatric AIDS within the country.

Data presented in UNGASS’ 2008 Report shows that the number of Cambodians with advanced HIV infection currently receiving ART has more than doubled since early 2006. The survival rate of ART patients after twelve months is currently estimated at close to 90 percent for adults, and over 90 percent for children.

However, the health care costs for a person infected with HIV remain significant; the annual cost of treating opportunistic infections associated with the disease is estimated at $300 per person – in a country where the average income hovers at approximately $260 per year. Due to such costs, very few orphanages in Cambodia are willing to take in orphans who have HIV/AIDS, causing many of these extremely vulnerable children to end up living on the streets.

NHCC is actively working to mitigate this problem by relieving almost 1000 poor rural families of the financial burden of providing treatment, education, and a nutritional diet to their infected children through the ‘Outreach Program’, and as such are providing for both these children’s futures, and the future of Cambodia’s next generation.