Cambodia joins international HIV test effort
Updated
Thousands of people in Cambodia will be tested for HIV-AIDS over the next two weeks. It's part of a global bid to test a million people worldwide by World AIDS Day on December the first. In Cambodia, the project is a joint venture between the government and the international charity, AIDS Health Foundation, or AHF. The testing work's already begun, taking advantage of the huge crowds visiting the capital Phnom Penh for the Water Festival this week.
Presenter: Sen Lam
Speaker: Dr Chhim Sarath, country director for Aids Health Foundation, Phnom Penh
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SEN LAM: Dr Sarath, first of all, how is the project going so far in Cambodia?
CHHIM SARATH: As you know, AHF Cambodian Care and its partner in Cambodia, we plan to test 10,000 people in people in World AIDS Day testing week. And with the national centre for HIV, AIDS, dermatology and STI, we will be doing 30,000 tests during the campaign. And the campaign actually already started in Phnom Penh in the Water Festival, as this is a opportunity for us to reach a lot of people who come from different provinces to join the Water Festival. And in the province we will start from November 24 and will continue until December 5.
SEN LAM: So, did many country people come to the Water Festival, and did many country people get tested for HIV/AIDS last week?
CHHIM SARATH: Yeah, actually there are a lot of people come from different provinces to Phnom Penh to join the Water Festival and we have our outreach team to reach thousands of people with messages regarding HIV/AIDS and testing. And we have tested around 1,000 people during the Water Festival. Besides, we have reached a lot of, I think it's more than 10,000 people we have reached with the message regarding to HIV/AIDS so that they - some people prefer to have HIV/AIDS test in their areas.
SEN LAM: What are the prevailing attitudes? Are Cambodians shy about coming forward to be tested for HIV/AIDS?
CHHIM SARATH: We start with giving them the clear message about the HIV/AIDS and also we have been doing work on HIV/AIDS for a long time, we have found stigma discrimination against HIV/AIDS has been reduced a lot in Cambodia and the people learn a lot about HIV/AIDS. So a lot of people are very open and come in for testing. This is what I have learned so far.
SEN LAM: So, are you focusing on any particular high risk groups or is it just open to the general public?
CHHIM SARATH: Actually we open for the general public. We target everybody but we more target on the high risk populations such as sex worker, the promotion girl, migrant worker, etcetera.
