New Hope for Cambodian Children (NHCC)

OUTREACH PROGRAM

From its inception, NHCC has worked closely with the Clinton Foundation and other generous donors to provide life-saving ARV medication to Cambodian children infected with HIV/AIDS. In recent years, the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis have provided financial resources and expertise to the Ministry of Health in the Kingdom of Cambodia, to enable provincial health centers to distribute medication directly to infected Cambodians. NHCC currently supports the Ministry’s program, NCHADS, by providing vital support to families caring for infected children. Children participating in the Outreach Program are referred by local hospitals and health centers as being most in need.

NHCC works closely with these rural Outreach families, providing food subsidies to infected children to ensure that a nutritional, high-calorie diet is maintained. NHCC also offers a subsidy for transportation to and from the local health center, to ensure that children are able to receive regular treatment, and provides school uniforms, school supplies and shoes to the children, so that they may study at the local public school alongside their peers and remain integrated into their local community whilst maintaining their dignity.

The social capital that these children represent is inspiring; defeating a societal stigma and surviving a deadly virus, they act as evidence of the feat that active philanthropy is capable of achieving through support for educational and health care initiatives. Furthermore, they give hope that through effective development work, which NHCC’s ‘Outreach Program’ shows does not have to be costly, we can improve lives by empowering others.

As of September 2009, the Outreach Program supports 867 children and their affected families in Phnom Penh and the six provinces of Takeo, Prey Veng, Kampong Speu, Kampong Chaang, Svay Rieng and Kandal.

In the fourth quarter of 2009, due to the discontinuation of an alternative program in Takeo province, up to 200 more children will require immediate absorption into the ‘Outreach Program’, or risk losing access to a nutritional diet and the resources required to attend school. NHCC is currently doing all in its power to ensure that these HIV-positive children, who have already endured so much, will continue to receive the quality healthcare and education that they deserve.

Finally, the Clinton Foundation is currently working with a newly established NCHADS center in the Kirivom region, and has identified between 40 and 50 children in need of Outreach support, which NHCC seeks to pursue as soon as possible.