Helping Change the World for Children in Rural Cambodia

Children are the innocent victims of the most drastic consequences of poverty. In Cambodia, thousands of children die each year of preventable and treatable disease and it is not uncommon for a child to die of complications from respiratory infections, diarrhea, and diseases which are practically eradicated in the more developed countries.

In this impoverished and battered country, the mortality statistics are earthshaking:

• 15% of Cambodian children die before the age of 5
• 35% of Cambodian children are not immunized for polio, measles, or diphtheria
• 45% of Cambodian children under 5 are moderately to severely underweight
• 12,000 Cambodian children under the age of 15 live with HIV/AIDS

Angkor Hospital for Children (AHC) will replicate the quality pediatric treatment and teaching programs that have earned its acclaim by building a new pediatric wing which will be a part of the government-operated Sot Nikum Referral Hospital. The presence of this new pediatric center will relieve families from taking the arduous journey to AHC to get proper care for their children thereby reducing the morbidity and mortality of delayed treatment and saving time, saving resources, and saving precious lives.

In the long term, the success of this model pediatric health care facility may lead to additional such centers, allowing AHC to extend its successful health care programs throughout the country, especially into poor rural farming regions. It is conceivable that this project may be the start of a dramatic improvement in Cambodian healthcare.

The AHC Satellite Program has been designed in collaboration with the staff at AHC to maximize efficiency of operation. It will include all the necessary accoutrements of a modern hospital. And, recognizing that properly trained, quality health professionals can mean the difference between life and death for many children in Cambodia, the Satellite will effïciently and effectively combine resources with AHC staff to provide the best training for all doctors, nurses, lab technicians and pharmacy staff.

In addition to basic treatment, healthcare education and medical training objectives, the pediatric center will:

• encourage admissions for emergency treatment for children referred from health centers and other referral hospitals
• engage relevant existing health agencies and NGOs to improve links within the community
• bring health education directly to communities in Siem Reap Province while working to strengthen the quality of services available at local government-run health center

The new Angkor Hospital for Children Satellite Program is ready to begin transforming the face of health-care in Cambodia! And, who knows, in the words of former President of the United States, William J. Clinton: “There is hope that Cambodia can be a model for the rest of Asia and perhaps the world… ”