© Morl Sarath for Aids Alliance
The Report Card released by the Reproductive Health Association of Cambodia (RHAC) illustrates that there were 740 people newly infected with HIV in 2009 and approximately 1,450 AIDS-related deaths countrywide in 2010.
However, several questions arose on the reason why statistics of new HIV infections are not updated regularly and how AIDS-related deaths are documented. How do we monitor AIDS-related deaths and new HIV infections? How can we stabilize new infections?
A peer educator who asked not to be named said “I want to share a case of a spouse. An HIV-infected lady and her intended spouse have had sex without condoms for several months. The man said he did not care as he loved her. I informed the man about a voluntary and confidential counselling and testing (VCCT). He went to get VCCT and the primary result was negative. Then I advised him to use condoms. In fact, the man would become a newly-HIV infected if he continues his unsafe sex with his HIV-infected wife. The lady must say no sex to her partner if no condoms,” she added.
A human rights activist said “it is good if we can keep the number of new infections stable and reduce new infections by intensifying prevention efforts. If the number of new infections goes up every year, Cambodia and donor countries must review its prevention efforts,” he said. “Also, if deaths are increasing, government institutions and NGOs should also look into their care and treatment efforts.”
“The law on Prevention and Control of HIV/AIDS shall also be strictly enforced by law enforcement officials and implemented by courts of Cambodia,” commented a lawyer. “The intention to transmit HIV to other people is punishable under article 18 of this law. Imprisonment is between 10 and 15 years under article 50.”
In regard to AIDS-related deaths, KHANA, an organisation that supports 40 local NGOs and networks in 20 of 24 provinces of Cambodia also showed that 75 adults died of AIDS-related diseases in 2008. The number went up to 268 deaths in 2009 and 390 deaths in 2010. There were 110 deaths between January and June 2011. The report says four HIV-infected children died in 2008, twenty in 2009, and seventeen in 2010 and eight deaths within the first six months of 2011.
“Based on the information I have had, not all deaths are related to their opportunistic diseases and HIV. For example, two HIV-infected children were reportedly died of drowning to death in the flood water. In this case, we also counted them dead as well,” said a statistic specialist. “We do not have an indicator for newly HIV-infected but we will consider it next
year” he added.
“AIDS-related deaths should be well-documented and reported,” said a rights worker. “We should have full information of PLHIV who die of incidents such as trafficking incidents, or natural disasters, and who die of opportunistic diseases. We must have a narrative report about deaths. Hiding them or telling only the number does not help intensify prevention, care and treatment efforts. Mom’s story shocked me,” he added.
The story of Ms. Mom’s death in Svay Rieng in July 2011 which appeared on KHANA’s weekly of 3 August 2011, highlighted that a number of measures need to be taken to intensify prevention, care and treatment efforts. These include power in decision making, hospital reform, equity fund use, effective counselling and home-based-care, and the role of the community, HIV education and rapid responses to issues.