Health Advocates in Cambodia

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Ratanakiri province in Cambodia is located in the northeast corner of the country, bordering Laos to the north and Vietnam to the east.

Child mortality rates in Ratanakiri are extremely high (22.9% for children under age 5), as identified by the World Food Programme.[1] Malnutrition is a common contributing cause. 92% of households in the province do not have a sanitary toilet, and 60% of households do not have access to a safe source of drinking water.

CWEF began developing relationships with villagers in Ratanakiri in 2011 to better understand the local situation and to identify communities that wanted to partner with CWEF in improving local health.

In December 2013, CWEF’s Cambodia Health Director, Kanhchana Thoy, facilitated the second TOT (training of trainers) in Community Health Education (CHE) in Banlung. 14 participants joined the training from 7 different villages.

This training focuses on equipping the advocates to be comfortable facilitating change and discussions in their home communities. Topics focused on baseline data collecting, educational principles, objective setting, planning, building community ownership, community mapping, and problem solving. In the training feedback, the participants shared that they especially appreciated being taught tools for planning, which were unfamiliar to them previously.

We look forward to continuing to support these advocates as they start conversations in their villages about how to make changes to improve health!

 


[1] http://www.foodsecurityatlas.org/khm/country/provincial-Profile/Rattanakiri

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