DPA
Phnom Penh - Cambodia signalled Wednesday it was turning to the private sector for financial and demographic assistance in the battle against HIV and AIDS, with a visit of the nation's first lady to a garment factory. Cambodian Red Cross president and wife of Prime Minister Hun Sen, Bun Rany, made the visit to the jointly US-Taiwan owned Interhope garment factory, 20 kilometres from the capital, to show support for work-based initiatives to combat the spread of the virus.
Bun Rany, whom many analysts watch almost as closely as her husband for clues on key Cambodian policy direction, is expected to launch an HIV and AIDS business guide on World AIDS Day on December 1 as rapid economic growth increasingly sees business having a greater impact on communities than donor-based assistance.
She is scheduled to visit a host of other businesses which have taken the initiative to develop education programmes or lent financial backing to the cause over coming months.
"Don't bring AIDS home," Bun Rany told more than 1,000 workers, most of them young women. "If the wife is affected, the children are affected too. This puts the burden on the grandparents.
"Most problems are caused when we forget AIDS, but AIDS never forgets us," she added as they received gifts donated by the factory.
Cambodia's more than 300,000 garment workers are seen as a high risk group for infection as many of them are young women far from their homes and Cambodia's high HIV rate has created a trend for men to find girlfriends, rather than prostitutes.
These relationships are rarely exclusive, but girlfriends are less likely to demand condom use with men they feel they know.
Cambodia's labour force is up to 6.2 million, and the government estimates that almost 56,000 of them are likely to be infected with HIV based on the latest prevalence estimate of 0.9 percent.
This estimate, made by the government in mid-20007, is 50 per cent higher than the estimate found in the 2005 Health Survey which put household prevalence at 0.6 per cent as household surveys are likely to exclude key high-risk populations such as garment workers.
Cambodia has one of the highest rates of infection in the region.
Bun Rany, whom many analysts watch almost as closely as her husband for clues on key Cambodian policy direction, is expected to launch an HIV and AIDS business guide on World AIDS Day on December 1 as rapid economic growth increasingly sees business having a greater impact on communities than donor-based assistance.
She is scheduled to visit a host of other businesses which have taken the initiative to develop education programmes or lent financial backing to the cause over coming months.
"Don't bring AIDS home," Bun Rany told more than 1,000 workers, most of them young women. "If the wife is affected, the children are affected too. This puts the burden on the grandparents.
"Most problems are caused when we forget AIDS, but AIDS never forgets us," she added as they received gifts donated by the factory.
Cambodia's more than 300,000 garment workers are seen as a high risk group for infection as many of them are young women far from their homes and Cambodia's high HIV rate has created a trend for men to find girlfriends, rather than prostitutes.
These relationships are rarely exclusive, but girlfriends are less likely to demand condom use with men they feel they know.
Cambodia's labour force is up to 6.2 million, and the government estimates that almost 56,000 of them are likely to be infected with HIV based on the latest prevalence estimate of 0.9 percent.
This estimate, made by the government in mid-20007, is 50 per cent higher than the estimate found in the 2005 Health Survey which put household prevalence at 0.6 per cent as household surveys are likely to exclude key high-risk populations such as garment workers.
Cambodia has one of the highest rates of infection in the region.
3 comments:
"Don't bring aid home". YES, You're right.
BUT BUT....my lady, my husband won't listen to me pledges. Look at my eyes are black and blue.
"Don't bring aid home". YES, You're right.
BUT BUT....my lady, my husband won't listen to me pledges. Look at my eyes are black and blue.
It is nice to see our first lady trying to hack HIV/AIDS issue in Cambodia. Unfortunately, however, private sector will not do much. It has not worked Thailand all that much. They seems to stall out with 1.5% of the population infected with the virus.
Laos, on the other hand, is rated by factbook at only 0.1%.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/la.html
Thus, the solution is obvious if we examined Laos and learn from them.
Aside from that I like to share with you another view of the HIV/AIDS mathematically and politically because it is important that people understand the nature of this problem in our society. Therefore, grab on to your seat, whenever you are ready.
Hypothetically, Let's say our rating is 2% at the moment. Now, if we can prevent new case of HIV contraction from now on, the 2% will slowly decline because those who contracted the disease will died one after another until they are no more, which put us at 0%. The hard part is to estimate how long it take for the 2% to drop to zero because you don't die from HIV, but only if the HIV turned into AIDS. Once that happened, you have about 3-9 months typically. Thus, if you want to look good politically, LOL, you stop new HIV case, and you get those infected people to die quickly, then your HIV/AIDS will drop to zero within a few short years, and you'll look like a worldwide hero. This achievement will make you as popular as Sihanouk was and allowed you to rule Cambodia forever as a new father of the land.
On the other, hand, if you can't stop new case, and those infected people won't died, then you'll be in trouble because the 2% will rise, and you will not look good politically. you will be pounded by your oppositions day after day. However, if you can get the infected people to die fast, then the 2% will drop instead and you'll still look good politically.
Accordingly, do you see how ugly politic can get in this area? I mean the more people you can get to die quickly, the better you'll look, hehehe.
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