Survey found that most Cambodian youths are involved with alcohol, drugs and unsafe sex

05 Nov 2010
By Keo Nimol
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Soch

The ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MoEYS) along with a number of NGOs and international organizations conducted a survey on school age youths regarding the consumption of alcohol, drugs and sex.

The survey dubbed the MoEYS and NGOs’ investigation on 2,400 youths between the age of 10 to 24, which includes 1,253 boys and 1,236 girls, found that 91% of the boys consume alcohol or alcoholic beverages, whereas 70% of the girls said that they have consumed alcohol or alcoholic beverages.

Regarding sex, 41% of the boys and 23% of the girls indicated that they had sex and some even had abortions. In regards to the consumption of drugs, 15% of the boys and 4% of the girls said they have used drugs.

The survey was conducted in 8 provinces and municipalities: Phnom Penh, Battambang province, Kampong Cham province, Siem Reap province, Banteay Meanchey province, Svay Rieng province, Koh Kong province, and it took place at the beginning of 2010.

Pen Saroeun, director of educational health at MoEYS, said on 05 November that the survey was conducted during a period of 1 year in order to collect various statistics and the questions were asked to Cambodian youths along a number of hot spot areas where there are large crowds and where diseases could be easily spread.

Pen Saroeun added: “The areas are places where there are bars, karaoke parlors, massage parlors, street corners, soccer fields, attraction parks, public parks, snooker parlors, computer game parlors etc…”

Pen Saroeun indicated that after collecting the survey results, MoEYS called for cooperation between the authority and the NGOs in order to educate the youths so they may understand about the various dangers from consumption of drugs, alcohol and sex.

Dr. Um Sopheap, president of the Khmer HIV/AIDS NGO Alliance (KHANA), who uses the results of the survey, indicated that the survey is useful for Cambodia in regards to youth involvement in the use of drugs, alcohol and sex.

Um Sopheap said that the results of the survey could be used to set up new programs to educate the youths about the protection of their health: “This if the first time in Cambodia that there is such level of study, and we obtained this much scientific information. This is very needed information for programs to set up policies for the youths.”

The survey was conducted with the participation of UNICEF, WHO, UNFPA, UNESCO, UNAIDS, SRP, USAID and PRASIT etc…

Cambodian kids enjoy last free breakfast after mounting food prices force UN to end program

Cambodian children eat rice in their classroom during a school breakfast, supported by the World Food Program, in Kampong Speu province, about 45 kilometers, (28 miles) west of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on April 29, 2008. By the end of the month, the 450,000 Cambodian students who depend on a free breakfast, dished out daily courtesy of the U.N. World Food Program, will become the latest victims of soaring global food prices. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

2008-06-06

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - Students at a rural elementary school in Cambodia enjoyed their last free breakfasts in class Friday, after the United Nations World Food Program stopped supplying rice and other food because of soaring global prices.

In addition to directly providing nutrition for children, the WFP breakfasts gave parents an incentive to send them to school rather than to work in the fields, or to have them stay home to look after younger siblings.

The free breakfast program in Cambodia began in 2000 and has recently been benefiting about 450,000 rural students. The World Food Program feeds almost 89 million people worldwide, including 58.8 million children.

The principal of Choumpou Proek school, about 43 miles (70 kilometers) west of the capital, Phnom Penh, said his 612 students enjoyed a final free breakfast of steamed yellow split peas with salt _ minus rice.

The school's rice supply ran out May 27, so staff cooked the last 64 pounds (29 kilograms) of peas for the students, Nheng Vorn said by telephone from the school in the rice farming village in Kampong Speu province. The WFP also provided soybeans and cooking oil.

Even though the school is in a rice-growing area, the farms cannot produce enough of the staple to feed the entire community. WFP selected schools in poorest communities for the breakfast program.

The U.N.'s food agency said breakfast stocks at the 1,344 rural schools under its program would run out before mid-June. WFP stopped sending rice supplies in March.
The cutoff began after five local suppliers defaulted on contracts to provide rice because they could get a higher price elsewhere, program officials said.

The price of rice tripled in the first four months of the year as the world food crisis deepened.

Soaring fuel prices have driven up the costs of fertilizers, farm vehicle use and transporting food to markets. Speculation and increased consumption of meat and dairy goods in China, India and other booming developing nations are also considered major factors in the food price hikes.

About six miles (10 kilometers) from Nheng Vorn's school, Sangkum Seksa school principal Tan Sak said his students have been eating breakfasts of steamed peas with salt since their WFP rice ran out two weeks ago.

The school's kitchen will shut down next week when the supply of peas runs out, he said.

Similar situations were occurring around the country and all over the developing world.

In Burundi, Kenya and Zambia, hundreds of thousands of people face cuts in food rations after June. In Iraq, 500,000 recipients will likely lose food aid. In Yemen, it's 320,000 households, including children and the sick.

Coco Ushiyama, WFP's acting director for Cambodia, said in an interview last month that resumption of the free breakfast program would depend on donors' contributions in the future.

She said it was «really a tough decision» to end it in favor of continuing programs benefiting orphans of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, who are in a «more desperate need» of food aid.

She also expressed concern that the end of free breakfasts could reverse gains already made in trying to improve education for rural children.

At the two schools, the principals said student attendance rates were stable so far.

Nheng Vorn, the principal at Choumpou Proek, said he has been meeting with village leaders and families to encourage children to keep going to school, even though the free breakfasts were coming to an end.

«All we can do is hope to get more rice, but that does not depend on us because prices on the global market are still very high,» he said.

It was not immediately clear if the breakfast program could be resumed with new funding, and WFP officials in Cambodia were not available to comment Friday.

Cambodian Evening in the Gold Coast Nov. 10

Friday, 12 October 2007
By Alameda Sun (Alameda, Calif., USA)

You are warmly invited to "Enjoy Cambodia" — an evening of food, beauty and culture to benefit the organization Friendship with Cambodia, Saturday, Nov. 10 from 6 to 9 p.m. in a beautiful Gold Coast home.

The evening features an authentic, gourmet Cambodian dinner, a beautiful classical dance performance by the Cambodian Dance Troupe of San Jose and a discussion about Cambodian cuisine. Cambodian crafts will be for sale.

You are warmly invited to "Enjoy Cambodia" — an evening of food, beauty and culture to benefit the organization Friendship with Cambodia, Saturday, Nov. 10 from 6 to 9 p.m. in a beautiful Gold Coast home.

The evening features an authentic, gourmet Cambodian dinner, a beautiful classical dance performance by the Cambodian Dance Troupe of San Jose and a discussion about Cambodian cuisine. Cambodian crafts will be for sale.

You will also be treated to a tour of the beautiful period-decorated Victorian home

Friendship with Cambodia supports humanitarian projects in Cambodia including sponsoring 100 children in school, starting small loan programs for women, supporting community-based natural resource management, providing vocational training to landmine survivors, a shelter for street children, care for families with AIDS, and programs to prevent the trafficking of girls.

The 4-year-old group has active members in the San Francisco Bay Area and Eugene, Oregon. Tickets are $75 ($50 is tax-deductible).

Buy your tickets in advance by sending a check to Friendship with Cambodia, PO Box 5231, Eugene, OR 97405. Please mail in your payment by Nov. 1.

For more info, contact Bhavia Wagner at cambodiaedu@hotmail.com or (541) 343-3782.