Cambodia seeks help for AIDS patients

Cambodia's National AIDS Program (NAP) appealed for help to fight the spread of HIV. The appeal followed figures issued by the NAP that an estimated 120,000 Cambodians have been infected with HIV, according to Hor Bun Leng, NAP. In August 1995, the World Health Organization (WHO) revised the estimate of Cambodian HIV cases to 30,000 from the previous figure of 5000. The figure was revised upwards again in November 1995 to between 50,000 and 90,000. "The estimated figure for HIV-infected persons in 1996 is 120,000 cases and for people suffering from [advanced] AIDS ... we [have] estimate[d] a least 1000 cases," Hor Bun Leng said. "It's a very, very serious problem. We know how to handle it, how to get the information out to the people, and how to get success, but we need more money--we need funding from any donor agency which could help," he said. The NAP believes that 40,000 people or more could be AIDS patients by the turn of the century. "The WHO says we should spend at least $1 per person for the anti-AIDS campaign. In Thailand the government spent $80 million for a population of about 65 million people. But I have 10 million people and only between $200,000 and $300,000," Hor Bun Leng said. "[In 1995] we only heard about AIDS cases in Phnom Penh, but now we get reports from the provincial level throughout the country," he said. He said most provincial hospitals report new AIDS cases every month. "We don't know how to curb the HIV/AIDS problem. We need money for educational material, but we don't have enough financial resources."