HIV/AIDS Programs Changing Male Behavior in Cambodia

Outreach workers provide HIV/AIDS education to men in an entertainment establishment in Phnom Penh. (Photo by PSI Cambodia)

FrontLines - September 2009
USAID

Phnom Penh, Cambodia—The crowded, raucous beer gardens of Phnom Penh don’t always make the best classrooms, admits Ky Sok Ly. A university student by day, Ky transforms into a roving teacher by night to educate groups of men about the dangers of HIV/AIDS.

“Sometimes it’s difficult to get their attention when they’ve been drinking,” Ky said. “But most men are eager to hear our message so they can protect themselves from disease.”

Ky, 21, is one of 48 outreach specialists in Cambodia working in entertainment establishments. Operating in pairs, the specialists engage men in five-minute discussions about HIV/AIDS and sexual health.

For example, a team might approach a group of men and show them photos of five women. The team would ask the men which women look infected with HIV and which do not, in order to prompt a discussion about the dangers of assessing a person’s HIV status based on appearance.

Launched in June 2008 by USAID and funded by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the program has already reached 161,000 men. It is one of a series of USAID programs that target male clients of sex workers in an attempt to correct what has been an unbalanced focus on women to promote condom use and other behaviors to prevent the spread of HIV.

Over the last 10 years, Cambodia has been a rare success story in the global fight against HIV/AIDS. By promoting condom use in brothels, the country cut its HIV prevalence rate in half from 2 percent in 1998 to less than 1 percent in 2006. The prevalence rate among sex workers fell by 66 percent in that same period.

USAID has been the largest HIV donor in Cambodia since 1994.

However, in recent years men have increasingly sought sexual partners in karaoke bars and other entertainment venues, where they perceive the women to be less risky than in brothels. A recent police crackdown on brothels has accelerated this shift. In entertainment venues, it is common for male patrons to meet “sweethearts,” or semi-regular mistresses with whom they exchange money and gifts for sex.

USAID data show that while condom use is high among brothel-based sex workers, it is considerably lower among other entertainment workers. According to many entertainment workers, a major barrier to condom use is the attitudes of their male sexual partners.

A reality television show called “You’re the Man,” which challenges male norms and promotes male responsibility, started up in July. M.Style, a health campaign launched in late 2008, uses social clubs and internet chat rooms to encourage men who have sex with men to protect themselves from disease.

Ky is pleased to be part of these efforts to reach high-risk men. “I’m learning skills that will help me later in life. Most important, I’m helping Cambodia develop by keeping my people healthy,” she said.

Cambodia at Cal State L.B.

The short documentary film What I See When I Close My Eyes, directed by Leslie Hope, premiered during a cultural event Saturday at Cal State Long Beach. Cambodia: 32 years After the Killing Fields, is sponsored by Cal State Long Beach s Sociology Department, the Sociology Student Association and the Cambodian Student Society in collaboration with the Dr. Haing S. Ngor Foundation. (Kevin Chang / Press-Telegram)

Cassidy Kysoth, 9, performs with other members of the Spirit of Khmer Ankgor dance group during a cultural event Saturday at Cal State Long Beach. Cambodia: 32 Years After the Killing Fields was sponsored in part by the school s sociology department and the Sociology Student Association. (Kevin Chang / Press-Telegram)

Local: Event reaches out to community with music, dance and documentaries.

10/20/2007
By Greg Mellen, Staff writer
Long Beach Press Telegram

LONG BEACH - Cal State Long Beach on Saturday reached out to the Long Beach Cambodian community and to students who want to learn more about the struggling homeland of so many local residents.

"Cambodia: 32 Years After the Killing Fields," was a one-day presentation of Cambodian music, dance and two short documentary films.

The event began with the soft strains of traditional pinpeat music and concluded with an airing of a film about the run-up to the Khmer Rouge tribunals and an update on the ongoing trials in Cambodia.

The final film, entitled "The Road to Closure," noted that the question of justice for the top members of the Khmer Rouge, charged with crimes against humanity, will only be answered in Khmer hearts.

With the tribunals only now taking their first hesitant and unsteady steps, Saturday's event concluded its road to closure with an open-ended question: If and when justice is found, what next?

While answers still remain to be found, Dr. Leakhana Nou, a sociology professor at Cal State Long Beach, which helped sponsor the program, said part of the event's purpose was to promote dialogue.

"As sociologists, we feel it's important to allow marginalized social groups a voice," Nou said. "This helps us redefine ourselves as refugees rather than just survivors."

Or, as junior sociology student John Guevarra put it, the event may not have been so much about figuring out answers as beginning to understand.

The centerpieces of Saturday's event were two documentary films. One, "What I See When I Dream," premiered just two days after final edits, while "Road to Closure" was filmed in 2006.

"Dream" was a look at how Phnom Penh's street children are being helped by Mith Samlanh Friends-International, which that provides shelter, vocational training, art classes and other services.

Written and produced by actress Leslie Hope and her husband, cinematographer Adam Kane, the film consists almost entirely of children talking about themselves, their lives, their hopes and their dreams.

Their visions range from the heart-breakingly simple dream of a young girl to have soap, to the bold dream of a teenage boy to help drug addicts kick their habit and find work.

Much of the tale is also told through the life-sized portraits the children draw of themselves. Several of the drawings seen in the film were on hand at Saturday's show.

Although Friends-International helps about 1,800 kids per day, there are still an estimated 20,000 children living on the streets of Phnom Penh.

Kane said he and Hope plan to take the film to festivals and raise awareness about street children not only in Cambodia but worldwide.

"This started off as just a fundraising film for Friends," Hope said. "But it turned into 'What happens if you just let them tell their story and just watch?"'

Hope said she learned that what many people want is to "simply be heard."

"The Road to Closure," featuring music by Long Beach's Prach Ly and narrated by actor Jack Ong - master of ceremonies and co-sponsor of Saturday's event - was a documentary by local filmmaker Tiara Delgado.

It traced the history from the rise of the Khmer Rouge, under whose four-year reign about 1.7 million Cambodians died, to ongoing efforts to bring some of that group's leaders to trial.

The film asked Cambodians and Cambodian-Americans about their views of the proposed tribunal.

Because filming concluded before the recent arrests in Cambodia of former Khmer Rouge officials Nuon Chea and Kaing Guek Eav,Delgado and international attorney Sean Butler updated attendees on the shaky status of the oft-delayed and beleaguered tribunal.

Whether the trials will succeed or dissolve still remains to be seen, but Butler said it would be up to Cambodians, both at home and abroad, to take responsibility.

"Justice can't be imposed," Butler said. "The absence of violence is not the same as peace. For peace to happen, it has to be internal and organic."

Greg Mellen can be reached at greg.mellen@presstelegram.com or (562) 499-1291.