Cambodia has made exceptional progress in addressing HIV/AIDS since it first appeared in the country in 1991. At the height of the epidemic in the early 1990s, approximately 15,500 people were becoming newly infected annually. Since then, Cambodia has greatly reduced the number of new infections – to about 2,100 in 2009. In addition, 93% percent of those eligible to receive antiretroviral therapy are currently in treatment.
Despite these successes, Cambodia still faces a serious epidemic – 2,100 people continue to become newly infected each year, and treatment costs are escalating rapidly. The global economic recession has caused the budgets of both governments and international donors to flatten, limiting the resources available to sustain treatment and prevention programs. This creates a potentially devastating situation in Cambodia, where approximately 90% of all AIDS programs are funded by development partners.
This report, titled The Long-Run Costs and Financing of HIV/AIDS in Cambodia, examines the best ways in which Cambodia can continue to combat and reduce its HIV/AIDS epidemic. Written by Cambodian experts working closely with R4D staff, the report is the third in a series of studies done by the financing group of aids2031, an international initiative that has brought together some of the most prestigious HIV/AIDS experts. The report was presented by Robert Hecht, R4D Managing Director and co-author of the report, to the Cambodian Parliament on December 21, 2010 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
The study finds that in the best case scenario, by the year 2031 – fifty years after AIDS was first identified – the number of new infections in Cambodia can be reduced to 988 infections annually. However, if Cambodia’s AIDS efforts stall and treatment coverage declines, the number of new infections could climb to 3,800 a year in 2031 – nearly a four-fold increase over the best-case scenario. The report concludes that the government’s successful track record will only be maintained if it scales up prevention services for the most at-risk populations, such as sex workers, men having sex with men, and injecting drug users.
The report launch was featured in BBC and the Agence-France Presse. Its companion reports, The Long-Run Costs of HIV/AIDS in South Africa and the Costs and Choices: Financing the Long-Term Fight Against HIV/AIDS are also available for download.
