The dilemmas of aid: Cambodia 1992-2002

Cambodia is a small, poor, and sparsely-populated country between Vietnam and Thailand, which is making a slow recovery from a long history of conflict. 80% of its 11.4 million people live by subsistence farming; rice is their main crop. Infant mortality is 89.4/1000, and 12% of children die before the age of 5 years. Life expectancy is around 50 years, and about 45,000 Khmers (Cambodians) are missing at least one limb from a 30 year deposit of landmines and dumping unexploded ordinance. Despite a decade of concerted effort by the international community to improve Cambodia's prospects, disease and poverty still define life for most of the population. In April, 2002, I visited Cambodia for the fourth time in 10 years, to see how medical aid projects were faring in particular, and to assess whether the past decade of international aid and intervention has improved the provision of health care for Khmers.