ADRA provides help for fire victims in impoverished neighborhood of Phnom Penh

Cambodia: ADRA First to Respond to Needs of Fire Survivors

24 Apr 2009
Nadia McGill
Source: Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) International
Website: http://www.adra.org

ADRA International SILVER SPRING, Md.--On April 16, a deadly fire broke out in an impoverished neighborhood of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, killing one person, destroying nearly 100 homes, and displacing more than 1,120 people. To help survivors recover, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) launched an immediate emergency response, providing food and shelter for 250 families left homeless by the fire.

In the aftermath of the disaster, ADRA met with community and district leaders to identify the most pressing needs, which included the distribution of food kits stocked with rice, sugar, salt, oil, fish, noodles, and soy sauce, and plastic tarpaulins.

The distribution was implemented in partnership with the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Cambodia, and received funding from ADRA International, the ADRA Asia Regional office in Bangkok, Thailand, and ADRA Cambodia.

Following another fire in April 2008, ADRA also provided emergency food and shelter for 2,400 residents in another section of Phnom Penh. That blaze, which began at 5 a.m. in a community of makeshift structures, destroyed 450 homes.

To send your contribution to ADRA's Emergency Response Fund, please contact ADRA at 1.800.424.ADRA (2372) or give online at www.adra.org.

ADRA is a non-governmental organization present in 125 countries providing sustainable community development and disaster relief without regard to political or religious association, age, gender, race or ethnicity.

Additional information about ADRA can be found at www.adra.org.

Hand Washing a Low Priority in Rural Cambodia, Study Says; ADRA Improves Hygiene Practices

31 Dec 2008
By Satha Sin, ADRA Cambodia / Nadia McGill and Hearly Mayr, ADRA International
Source: Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) International
Website: http://www.adra.org

Silver Spring, Maryland - Only one in four rural Cambodians practice appropriate hand washing regardless of access to clean water and hygiene knowledge, according to a recent study presented by ADRA at the World Federation of Public Health Associations/American Public Health Association (WFPHA/APHA) Annual International Health Breakfast held in San Diego, California.

Dr. Leonard Uisetiawan, provincial projects advisor for the ADRA office in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, who presented the study, discussed the perception and hand washing practices among rural Cambodians. According to Dr. Uisetiawan, the project concluded that less than 26 percent of rural Cambodians use good hand washing techniques regardless of access to clean water and hygiene knowledge. In addition, less than 6 percent of child caretakers properly washed their hands after changing a child's soiled diaper or after defecation.

This research, funded by Colgate-Palmolive through the American Public Health Association, also highlighted that the practice of hand washing in Cambodian homes is not dependent on the availability of soap, water, buckets, accessibility to hand washing areas, household size, amount of children, mother's vocation, or educational level.

"There is a belief that hand washing with soap is a waste of money, water, and time," said Satha Sin, public relations officer for ADRA Cambodia.

Through the findings of this project, ADRA will provide information to parents that will help them improve the health of their children, by promoting good habits as role models. ADRA hopes that parents' approach to teaching personal hygiene, specifically hand washing, will be modified.

"By utilizing traditional values, perspectives, and community beliefs, we expect to be able to increase the number of villages that practice proper hand washing," said Dr. Uisetiawan.

The Hand Washing Research Project has been conducted over the past year as part of "Phum Mittapheap Koma", a three-year initiative aimed at improving rural health and reducing morbidity and mortality among more than 22,500 women and 17,400 children in the Kampong Thom province.

According to the Cambodia Demographic Health Survey, nearly nine percent of Cambodian children die before the age of five as a result of diarrhea, which is associated closely with the ingestion of contaminated food or water. The study identified this as one of the leading causes of death among young children.

ADRA has been active in Cambodia since 1988 in the three main sectors of Health, Water and Sanitation, and Food Security.

ADRA is a non-governmental organization present in 125 countries providing sustainable community development and disaster relief without regard to political or religious association, age, gender, race, or ethnicity.

Additional information about ADRA can be found at www.adra.org.

Author: Satha Sin, ADRA Cambodia / Nadia McGill and Hearly Mayr, ADRA International.

Media Contact: John Torres, Senior Public Relations Manager, ADRA International 12501 Old Columbia Pike Silver Spring, MD 20904 Phone: 301.680.6357 E-mail: Media.Inquiries@adra.org