Senior Minister His Excellency Ieng Mouly Presides Over Opening of Workshop on Validation of 5th National Comprehensive and Multisectoral National Strategic Plan for HIV/AIDS Response for 2019-2023
The National AIDS Authority held the final consultative workshop for the preparation of a national strategic plan under the presidency of Senior Minister His Excellency Ieng Mouly, Chair of the National AIDS Authority, at Le Royal Hotel on the morning of September 10, 2019. In attendance at the event were Excellencies, Lok Chumteavs, ladies, and gentlemen, the top managers of ministries, institutions, and administrations at national and subnational levels; representatives of the group of vulnerable people, development partners, civil society organizations, and especially:
-His Excellency Hok Kim Cheng, Director General for Health of the Ministry of Health;
-Ms. Khin Cho Win Htin, strategic information adviser of the UNAIDS, and
-Ms. Christina Lau, senior official of the Office of Public Education and Health, USAID/Cambodia.
The purpose of the workshop was to mobilize broader and more comprehensive inputs, from the Excellencies, Lok Chumteavs, ladies, and gentlemen, the representatives of all relevant ministries, institutions, and administrations at both national and subnational levels, pertaining to the draft national comprehensive and multisectoral strategic plan for response to HIV/AIDS for 2019-2023 to be used to address the problems concerning the spread of and response to AIDS over the next five years.
It should be recalled that the process of compiling the draft 5th National Strategic Plan took four months, with the participation of the Excellencies, Lok Chumteavs, ladies, and gentlemen, the representatives of the ministries, institutions, and administrations at national and subnational levels. Specifically, the draft plan needs supplementary inputs from the Excellencies, Lok Chumteavs, ladies, and gentlemen to ensure that the goals and activities of each strategy are consistent and interconnected, thereby allowing us to achieve the Royal Government’s resolve to end the spread of HIV and threat of HIV/AIDS by 2025.
His Excellency the Chair recalled that our Cambodia has embarked on a long journey in combating and dealing with HIV epidemic. The strong intent and will, accompanied by clear-cut joint efforts together with the contribution made by HIV-positive carriers, infected people, and civil society organizations, have inspired us to be able to fight to prevent the transmission and spread of HIV.
In the war against HIV infection over the past three decades, Cambodia has been honored as a winner by the United Nations once in 2010 for its achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and again in 2017 when the country was assessed to have reached the 90-90-90 targets along with six other nations worldwide.
On that great occasion, His Excellency the Senior Minister also expressed his profound gratitude to Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Royal Government of Cambodia, for his wise, brilliant, intelligent, and strong leadership in motivating the Excellencies, Lok Chumteavs, ladies, and gentlemen, the top managers of ministries, institutions, Royal Government entities, and civil society organizations as well as people living with HIV to unite as one national movement to save the lives of over one million people from HIV infection and approximately 600,000 others from dying of AIDS. Reducing HIV infection and averting the death from AIDS constitute a contribution to national economic development, and it can be said that this is an investment of all of us.
He also reminded the workshop that our fight against HIV spread is not yet over, for there is evidence that HIV epidemic remains a threat to our public health. We must bear in mind that since 1990, we have lost some 100,000 Cambodian citizens due to AIDS. We have now estimated that there are around 73,000 people currently living with HIV. Despite the noteworthy decline in the number of new cases, according to testimonial data, transmission is on the rise among the youth and men having with men. Moreover, while about 10,000 HIV-positive carriers have not yet come forward to receive treatment, the other 2,000 have quit.
He stressed that we must fast track the implementation of our strategic plan with detailed strategy based on experiences gained in the past. We also have to carry on our active joint strategy.
His Excellency the Senior Minister extended thanks to Samdech Kittiprittbandit Bun Rany Hun Sen, a prominent national figure of the Asia-Pacific Leadership Forum in response to HIV/AIDS and on development in Cambodia. Thanks to her leadership, not only has the Cambodian Red Cross exhibited its humanitarian gesture and awareness, but it has also carried out concrete activities to respond to sufferings and difficulties, protect rights and dignity, and assist HIV-positive carriers’ families, poor AIDS carriers, and miserable people in general to have a decent livelihood.
The Royal Government has resolved to lead, support, and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in order to offer great essential opportunity to address the need for social, economic, social, and structural changes with a view to eventually eliminating HIV transmission.
His Excellency the Chair called for collaboration on mutual development and support to resolve social welfare problems through an energetic system, participated by all relevant stakeholders of the Phase 4 Rectangular Strategy, according to which all the ministries, institutions, and state entities should fulfill their roles and duties by closely collaborating and coordinating to jointly achieve the mission and political goals of the Royal Government of the Sixth-Legislature National Assembly and to effectively respond to the need and concern of the citizens.
Moreover, he requested and encouraged the Excellencies, Lok Chumteavs, ladies, and gentlemen as well as all the workshop attendees to debate and provide further inputs, with the spirit of high responsibility, to each below-mentioned strategy in order to allow the draft 5th National Comprehensive and Multisectoral Strategic Plan for HIV / AIDS Response for 2019-2023 to be approved officially at the 2nd National AIDS Authority Plenary Meeting 2019 to be held on November 5, 2019.
The draft 5th National Comprehensive and Multisectoral Strategic Plan for HIV/AIDS Response for 2019-2023 consists of four strategies, including implementation, preparation, control, and evaluation:
-Strategy 1: Provide comprehensive services on the prevention, care, treatment, and support through multisectoral approaches.
-Strategy 2: Integrate HIV/AIDS response into the health system and non-health sector.
-Strategy 3: Expand the coverage of social protection services and promote the possibilities to access the legal and social services.
-Strategy 4: Increase the provision of the Royal Government’s funds up to 50% of the need and earmark a portion of the state budget for civil society organizations.
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