Background: Collecting data on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an essential approach for defining the scope of the AMR problem, developing evidence-based interventions and detecting new and emerging resistances. Our study aimed to identify key factors influencing the implementation of a laboratory-based AMR surveillance system in Cambodia. This will add additional insights to the development of a sustainable and effective national AMR... ( Read More )

Anemia in children remains a public health concern in many resource-limited countries. To better understand child anemia in Cambodia, we examined temporal and geospatial trends of childhood anemia and used logistic regression to analyze its association with individual and household characteristics using data from the Cambodia Demographic and Health Surveys for 2005, 2010, and 2014. The prevalence of childhood anemia decreased from 62.2% in 2005... ( Read More )

Background Hypertension (HTN) is a leading cause of cardiovascular diseases and deaths globally. To respond to the high HTN prevalence (23.5% among adults aged 40–69 years in 2016) in Cambodia, the government (and donors) established innovative interventions to improve access to screening, care, and treatment at different public health system and community levels. We assessed the effectiveness of these interventions and resulting... ( Read More )

Background: Cambodia has seen an increase in the prevalence of type 2 diabetes (T2D) over the last 10 years. Three main care initiatives for T2D are being scaled up in the public health care system across the country: hospital-based care, health center–based care, and community-based care. To date, no empirical study has systematically assessed the performance of these care initiatives across the T2D care... ( Read More )

Acute Respiratory Infections (ARIs) are the leading cause of mortality and morbidity among children under 5 years old and about 1.3 million annually worldwide. Account for 33% of deaths among children under 5 years that occurred in developing countries. In Cambodia, ARIs prevalence in children under 5 years old was 20% in 2000, and 6% in 2014. Hence, the aimed to describe the trends of ARI symptoms among children aged 0–59 months over time... ( Read More )

Background: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as type-2 diabetes (T2D) and hypertension (HTN) pose a massive burden on health systems, especially in low- and middle-income countries. In Cambodia, to tackle this issue, the government and partners have introduced several limited interventions to ensure service availability. However, scaling-up these health system interventions is needed to ensure universal supply and access to NCDs care for... ( Read More )

As a member state of the International Health Regulations 2005, Cambodia is continuously strengthening its capacity to respond to health emergencies and prevent the international spread of diseases. Despite this, Cambodia’s capacity to prevent, detect and rapidly respond to public health threats remained limited at the onset of the pandemic, as was the case in most countries. This paper describes epidemiological phases, response phases,... ( Read More )

Objective: This paper examines the contributions made by the National Institute of Public Health to Cambodia's response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic during 2020-2021. Methods: The activities conducted by the Institute were compared with adaptations of the nine pillars of the World Health Organization's 2020 COVID-19 strategic preparedness and response plan. To gather relevant evidence, we reviewed national... ( Read More )

Objective To assess usage of public and private healthcare, related healthcare expenditure, and associated factors for people with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and/or hypertension (HTN) and for people without those conditions in Cambodia. Methods A cross-sectional household survey. Settings Five operational districts (ODs) in Cambodia. Participants Data were from 2360 participants aged ≥40 years who had used healthcare... ( Read More )

Overweight and obesity increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, stroke, and some type of cancers, and maternal health globally. In Cambodia, the prevalence of overweight and obesity among women aged 15–49 years increased from 6% in 2000 to 18% in 2014, becoming a public health burden. We examined socio-demographic and behavioral factors associated with overweight and/or obesity among women of... ( Read More )

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has become a global crisis that requires government responses. Cambodia is one of the countries that reported relatively low numbers of cases of COVID-19 infections; however, the number has been significantly rising since 2021. In this study, we provide an overview of the responses to COVID-19 from the Cambodian government, as it is a very important lesson learned for other resource-limited countries and for... ( Read More )

In February 2021, routine sentinel surveillance for influenza-like illness in Cambodia detected a human avian influenza A(H9N2) virus infection. Investigations identified no recent H9N2 virus infections in 43 close contacts. One chicken sample from the infected child’s house was positive for H9N2 virus and genetically similar to the human virus.

Introduction Cambodia has achieved significant progress in maternal health, yet remains in the group of countries with the highest maternal mortality ratio in South-East Asia. Extra efforts are needed to improve maternal health through assessing the coverage of maternal health services as a continuum of care (CoC) and identifying the gaps. Our study aims to explore the coverage level of the Optimal CoC by (1) measuring the continuity of... ( Read More )

Introduction In Cambodia, modern contraceptive use has increased slightly from 35.0% to 39.0% between 2010 and 2014. However, this proportion remains low in the South-East Asia regions; more efforts are needed to increase the use of modern contraceptives (MC). Our study aimed to explore the determinants of MC use and to assess whether women’s decision-making power on contraceptive use is the more influential... ( Read More )