JBCF

For the poorest of poor families, the constant struggle to achieve food security means it is virtually impossible for them to direct income at paying school-fees, a necessary requirement for getting attention at school in Cambodia. Where parents are able to do so, statistics show they prioritise the education of boys over girls, with school enrolments of girls being 50% lower than boys at age 15 and three times lower at age 18. The lack of access to education, and high dropout rate amongst girls, means many girls and young women are not exposed to education on reproductive health and sexually transmitted diseases.

It happens very often that the father first falls ill and dies of Aids. Very often the illness and subsequent death is not known to be related to Aids and the mother will only find out that she has been infected if she becomes pregnant and the baby then dies. Sometime after, she too will become ill and die, leaving the remaining children as orphans. A growing number of destitute widowed mothers and their children are drifting to Phnom Penh from the country to live on the streets, having sold everything in an effort to find cure for the fathers who have already died of Aids.

Cambodian cultural and religious beliefs continue to play a critical role in perpetuating gender discrimination and the subordination of women and girls. Despite women representing the majority of the population the illiteracy rate amongst females is 36%, in contrast to 16% amongst males. One third of woman-headed households lack independent economic means and in the case of married women, fear of abandonment and/or of domestic violence, often leads to increased dependency and further promotes an exploitative situation. 

Top

Cambodian children who lose one or more parents to the epidemic will face severe poverty and malnutrition and will become vulnerable to exploitation as child prostitutes and labourers. Reports are saying that the most vulnerable group of Aids orphans is those aged seven to twelve. This age group is considered to no longer attract the protection given, by the government, to babies and infants, to be old enough to work, but to lack the life skills and the physical strength to protect them.

For young girls in this situation there is a great danger of being sold to brothels if orphanages do not take them in before their mothers with HIV/Aids become too ill to protect them. The Government has little money to support orphanages and many children prefer to live on the streets rather than in Government orphanages as the conditions there are very grim.

The Cambodia Demographic and Health Survey 2005 estimates that ~9% of all children (~570 000) in Cambodia are orphans and that 1% of all children (approximately 66 000 children) have lost both parents. An orphan is defined as a child below the age of 18 years who has lost one or both parents.

In addition to orphans in households almost 9000 children are living in orphanages (May 2006 est.). Of the children living in Cambodia’s orphanages, 40% are orphans, 11% have been abandoned and a further 43% have been relinquished to institutional care due to poverty.

However, there are no current estimates of the number of children orphaned as result of HIV/Aids, the number of AIDS affected children or the number of children made vulnerable by the epidemic.

Top

Sources:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/cb.html
http://www.khana.org
http://www.unaids.org/en/CountryResponses/Countries/Cambodia.asp
http://www.wikipedia.com/cambodia

• Health, N. I. o. P., N. I. o. Statistics, et al. (2006). Cambodia Demographic and Health Survey 2005. N. I. o. P. Health, N. I. o. Statistics and O. Macro.
• Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation’s (2006) Policy on Alternative Care for Children. Phnom Penh , Cambodia