In a new report on the health of the world’s children, the UN Children’s Fund states the mortality rate for those under 5 years old in Cambodia has increased from 115 per 1,000 children in 1990 to 140 in 2003—a number that is inaccurate, Rodney Hatfield, the Unicef Representative in Cambodia, said on Thursday.
“Childhood Under Threat: The State of the World’s Children 2005” report ranks Cambodia as having the worst infant mortality rate in East Asia.
“One of the reasons for the increase is that the data is not very accurate,” Hatfield said by telephone on Thursday.
“In reality, there’s probably not been much change [since 1990]. There will be a demographic health survey this year of 60,000 households, which will be much more valuable. I don’t think it helps to use those figures,” he said of the Unicef report released Thursday.
The rate of infant death has been decreasing in most of Asia fairly rapidly, Hatfield added, because of increased prosperity, better communications, improved treatment of diseases, far better immunization coverage, better awareness diseases and how they can be treated, and availability of health services.
Hatfield said the problem of infant mortality here is a result of the country’s underfunded and underequipped health services.
“It’s not a quick and easy thing to instate health services for a country,” he said.
“The infant mortality rate in Cambodia has consistently been higher in the last 10 years compared to its neighbors.”
Mu Sochua, former Minister of Women’s Affairs, and member of the opposition party Cabinet, said Thursday the state of Cambodian children’s health is “appalling.”
“I find it appalling that these figures are so high in terms of lack of access to safe water, to schools, to immunization,” Mu Sochua said.
“You see the children of Cambodia being victimized by a system that has not improved in terms of quality and access to services,” she said.
“The infant mortality figures are really alarming compared to Vietnam…It’s a huge difference.”
According to Unicef, only 23 Vietnamese children per 1,000 dies before age 5.
The new report states that 45 percent of Cambodian children are malnourished; 45 percent have not been immunized against measles; 66 percent do not have access to safe water; 86 percent lack access to adequate sanitation facilities, and less than half the girls who enter primary school complete the sixth grade.
The report goes on to state that out of 2.1 million children under 15 living with HIV/AIDS globally, 7,300 live in Cambodia. The country has the highest prevalence of HIV in Asia, which has resulted in an estimated 50,000 children being orphaned as of 2001.
That number is projected to increase to 142,000 by 2010, according to the report.
Globally, the report cites poverty, HIV/AIDS and conflict as three of the most devastating factors threatening children-issues that affect Cambodian children as well.
“When a population is displaced, or there is…civil strife, HIV/AIDS spreads quickly, especially when you have a large number of military forces,” Hatfield said.
“Unprotected casual sex certainly is a major factor. The drug use in Cambodia is also increasing—which is not positive for the HIV/AIDS situation,” she added.
Although an estimated 2.2 million children in Cambodia still live in absolute poverty, suffer from poor nutrition and lack access to basic health care, some improvements have been made in areas such as immunizations.
“Very few children now die from immunizable diseases like measles”, Hatfield said.“Polio has been eradicated from Cambodia over the last five years. Measles deaths have been very much reduced. It can be quite a killer of children, especially for those who are malnourished.”
Unicef will present its report to King Norodom Sihamoni today.
