Senior Minister His Excellency Ieng Mouly Presides Over Opening of Consultative Workshop on Findings of Feasibility To Integrate Response to HIV/AIDS Into Sangkat/Commune Development Plan
Senior Minister His Excellency Ieng Mouly, Chair of the National AIDS Authority, presided over the opening of the consultative workshop on the findings of feasibility to integrate the response to HIV/AIDS into the sangkat/commune development plan at Sunway Hotel on the morning of September 18, 2019.
The workshop was jointly organized by the National AIDS Authority and the Ministry of Interior and co-sponsored by USAID, PEPFAR, and HP+/Palladium. Circa 100 participants in the meeting consisted of top NAA managers, representatives of the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Economy and Finance, Ministry of Planning, Ministry of Women’s Affairs, and development partners (USAID, PEPFAR, UNAIDS, WHO, UNDP, and HP+). Also present were the representatives of the administrations of Kampong Cham, Prey Veng, Battambang, and Kandal Provinces and of the civil society organizations (CPN+, HACC, KHANA, FHI, CHEC, CRS, RHAC, BfH, PC, MHC, and AUA.)
Addressing the workshop, His Excellency the Senior Minister underlined that following the three decades of unflinching fight against HIV/AIDS, Cambodia was bestowed with the United Nations’ awards, the first time in 2011, for its attainment of the sixth Millennium Goals in the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS in the Kingdom of Cambodia and the second time, for its achievement of the 90-90-90 targets among the seven countries (Botswana, Cambodia, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Singapore, and the United Kingdom) in the world.
He added that now, we are facing a raft of challenges, consisting mainly of: 1) the growth of HIV transmission among men who have sex with men as well as transgender and young people, 2) the discovery of some 10,000 HIV/AIDS carriers who have gone missing or who have failed to get treatment, and 3) the lack of reports from private hospitals on the implementation of the program of reducing mother-to-child HIV/AIDS transmission. After the Royal Government has introduced the seven-point policy on the fight against HIV/AIDS and measures pertaining to the response to HIV/AIDS, the National AIDS Authority has instituted some approaches as follows:
1) Formulate the executive regulation on the integration of the response to HIV/AIDS into the sangkat/commune development plan.
2) Prepare training manual on enabling support for laws and policy on the response to HIV/AIDS at subnational level at the beginning of 2019.
3. Lead and coordinate the integration of response to HIV/AIDS into the sangkat/commune development and investment plan and the provision of Equitable Card to HIV positive carriers and groups of vulnerable people.
The Senior Minister as well mentioned that in the context where we “should not leave anyone behind,” Samdech Techo Prime Minister Hun Sen has called for “national movement” to end the HIV/AIDS spread, a threat to public health, by 2025. Under this high guidance, the National AIDS Authority has mapped out the 5th Strategic Plan for comprehensive multisectoral response to HIV/AIDS, which will presented to the plenary meeting to be held in early November 2019.
At the end, he asked the workshop attendees to conduct debate actively with a view to searching for inputs, aiming at closing the gap of prevention and treatment and especially advocating the grassroots social protection. Moreover, health centers and sangkat/commune councils were able to work with community volunteers and civil society organizations to allow those living with HIV and key population to participate in and gain access to quality public services, without fear and discrimination. All this is to help improve the quality of life of the people living with HIV and of the key population, thereby permitting them to actively take part in the country’s socioeconomic development, which is an investment in the response to HIV/AIDS.
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