What are the Cambodia Millennium Development Goals?

One in three Cambodians live on less than 2000 riels (US$0.50) a day. Poverty has declined slightly over the last decade in Cambodia. While this trend is encouraging, a number of challenges will need to be addressed in the years to come if Cambodia is to reach its overarching goal of halving poverty by 2015. For 'goals on paper' to become a practical reality for millions of Cambodians, the challenge will be to accelerate the decentralisation process, promote the development of agro-industry, invest in sectors with high growth potential and pro-poor rural infrastructure, and provide effective social protection. This will require a multi-faceted response incorporating economic, social and political issues.

Over 80 percent of children are now going to primary school. If Cambodia is on track to achieve its goal for primary education, the enrolment ratio in lower secondary education is of only 19 percent. The main challenges are to ensure equitable access to basic education, increase budgetary allocation, subsidize transportation and scholarship to target students from poor families, and improve the quality and efficiency of the teaching system.

Only one girl, compared to three boys, currently attends secondary school. Cambodia is recording improvements with respect to the gender gap in the youth literacy rate, and the female share of wage employment has increased, as well as the proportion of seats for women parliamentarians. The main challenges are to increase girls' and women's access to higher education, increase the share of women in decision-making positions and enhance their capacity to find jobs or to create income generating activities.

One baby out of ten dies before reaching their first birthday. Despite a growing economy and some improved development, under-five mortality has risen over the last ten years. We are now counting 124 deaths per 1,000 live births among Cambodian children under the age of five, as compared to 115 deaths ten years ago. Cambodia is unlikely to meet Goal 4 unless decisive actions are taken to reduce the very high rate of malnutrition, increase the number of trained health personnel, improve sanitation and immunization coverage, access to health care and adequate funding to the health sector.

The proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel has remained very low throughout the last decade at around 32 percent. Use of modern contraceptives remains at a modest rate of approximately 20 percent. Progress on maternal mortality has been limited. The main challenges are the lack of trained health personnel, the high cost of health care and low education levels among pregnant women. In order to meet Goal 5, an effective response would need to improve access to health care and family planning services, increase the number of trained health personnel, provide information campaigns, and better target and manage health expenditures.

The HIV prevalence rate in the adult population fell from 3.3 percent to 2.6 percent between 1997 and 2002. Cambodia has realized impressive gains in condom use among direct sex workers from 16 percent to a little more than 91 percent, which puts Cambodia well on track to reach its CMDG target of 100 percent condom use. Despite tremendous efforts, Cambodia is still the worst affected country in the region, with an increase in the transmission between husband and wife and mother-to-child. The main challenges to be overcome for meeting the HIV/AIDS targets are: changing popular perceptions and behavioural patterns, addressing gender discrimination and expanding support programmes to people living with HIV/AIDS, increasing access to ARV treatment, and improving coordination, monitoring and evaluation of the socio-economic impact of the epidemic. The malaria fatality rate has declined, but Cambodia remains among the 23 countries in the world with a high burden of tuberculosis.

Only one in three people in the countryside has access to safe drinking water. The reduction of forest cover between 1985 and 2002 amounted to almost two million hectares. At this rate, Cambodia will fall below its CMDG target of forest coverage representing 60 percent of Cambodia's total area. The main challenges to ensuring environmental sustainability over the next decade are: the mainstreaming of good governance into environment and natural resources management, law enforcement, empowering communities in natural resource management and improving state land management effectiveness, and increasing public and private investment in water and sanitation.

Ensuring that Official Development Assistance (ODA) resources are utilized in an effective and accountable manner to realise the CMDGs is of paramount importance. The Royal Government of Cambodia is strongly committed to further integrate Cambodia into the world economy by forming bilateral and multilateral trade agreements as Cambodia's recent entrance to the WTO demonstrate. Trade is considered an "engine of growth" which has the potential to contribute to sustainable poverty reduction and other CMDGs.

Landmines and Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) have victimized more than 50,000 people so far and still endanger hundreds of lives each year. To better reflect realities in Cambodia, The government recognized mine action as one of the top priorities for the country's rehabilitation and development by developing a specific target to move towards zero impact from landmines and UXOs by 2012, Cambodia MDG 9. Following almost three decades of conflict, Cambodia remains one of the worst landmine and UXO affected countries in the world with approximately 12 percent of Cambodian villages having to cope with high contamination by landmines and UXOs. Though great progress has been made in reducing civilian landmine related casualties, still hundreds of civilian casualties occur every year and many more carry the burden of past injuries.