Cambodia Health Policies, Law, Procedure, Operational Manual

Cambodia Health Policies, Law, Procedure, Operational Manual, SOPs on Health and HIV/AIDS

Law on the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS in Cambodia

Issues: In July 2002, 

The Cambodian National Assembly passed the Law on the Prevention and Control of HIV/AIDS. The law mandates a wide range of activities by Ministries of the Royal Government of Cambodia and by civil society. It takes a strong human rights approach, emphasizing non-discrimination, confidentiality, voluntary HIV testing, freedom of movement and abode, and the prohibition of HIV screening for employment or education, for example. The National AIDS Authority is responsible for coordinating the multisectoral implementation of the legislation, including resource mobilization. The National AIDS Authority (NAA) needed to promote awareness of the legislation in Cambodian society and implementation of the legislation by all stakeholders. 

Description: The NAA established a Legal and Policy Working Group which developed a code of conduct for operationalizing the law. The process involved stakeholders from 14 government Ministries, the Cambodian courts system, providers of health care services, multilateral agencies, and local and international nongovernmental organizations, with technical assistance from The POLICY Project Cambodia. 

Lessons learned: A code of conduct which articulates in plain language the meaning of the key provisions of the law, and the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders, is a valuable tool for promoting awareness and understanding of the law, and for giving practical meaning to the provisions it contains. The involvement of all relevant government and civil society stakeholders in drafting the code of conduct is important in producing an effective document. 

Recommendations: Legislation dealing with multiple aspects of HIV/AIDS such as non-discrimination, voluntary counseling and testing, confidentiality, and freedom of movement and abode, can have greater impact when it is accompanied by a plain language document to raise awareness in the general population, and to guide implementation of the law by all stakeholders.

CSOs Constraining of HIV/AIDS Laws and Policy Implementation

Cambodia’s own extraordinary achievements were recognized at the United Nations Millennium Development Goal Summit in September 2010 in halting and reversing HIV with the presentation to the Royal Government of a well deserved Millennium Development Goal Award. However, the government institutions and the civil society organizations are still worried about the second wave of HIV epidemic through Men Who have Sex with Men (MSM), Entertaining Workers (EWs), Drug Users/Injecting Drug Users (IDU/DU), Orphan and Vulnerable Children (OVC), and Most-at-Risk Population (MARPs). With these concerns, NGOs are trying to mobilize the resources and to do fundraising for program implementation, particularly in the grassroots level.

Result from the forum discussion organized HIV/AIDS Coordinating Committee (HACC) with the present of National AIDS Authority (NAA) in Siem Reap province; it was found that there were some challenges facing the community involving with government’s policy and laws. There are laws, a policy, and Prakas for implementing the prevention of HIV and AIDS which were seemingly controversial:

1. Law on the Prevention and Control of HIV/AIDS
2. Law on Drug Control
3. Law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation
4. Prakas 66 of the Government on 100% Condom Use Program (100% CUP)
5. Village/Commune Safety Policy

There should be more dissemination, explanation, and education from interrelated ministries, provincial departments, provincial AIDS Committee, NAA, HACC, NGOs, commander in chief in chief, and court in order to clarify and respond to implementing actors and people’s concerns.