What are the Cambodia Millennium Development Goals?

Poverty has been reduced from 47 percent in 1993 to 30.1 percent in 2007 (against a projected value of 29.5) and is therefore on track to achieve the goal.

While poverty reduction is on track, almost one third of the population is still below the poverty line and inequality is increasing: instead of rising as expected, the share of the lowest quintile in national consumption has fallen from 8.5 percent in 1993 to 6.6 percent in 2007, which is much below the projected target for that year of 10.1 percent. This means that special measures must be taken to address this problem to achieve the goal of 11 percent in 2015. This must be addressed through specific inclusive growth policies.

Insufficient information is available on reducing child labour, but progress in this areas appears to be slower than expected

Food poverty decrease was slower than overall poverty because of higher inflation on food prices than on non-food prices. Food poverty has only fallen from 24 percent to 18 percent (instead of 15.1) and is off track to achieve the 10 percent by 2015.

While good progress was made in short term malnutrition indicators (underweight and wasted), the high food prices and economic crisis have caused progress to slow down in these areas: underweight children has been constant at 28.8 percent since 2005 and wasted children has increased from 8.4 in 2005 to 8.9 in 2008. Both may still on track to achieve their targets if recent trends are reversed.

At 39.5 percent, the level of stunted children (a long term indicator of malnutrition) is higher than it should be (36.3 percent) making it difficult to achieve the target of 25 percent.

What is needed in this area is diversifying growth, with focus on the poorest segments, strengthening the important role that agriculture must play in poverty reduction, and the coordination and vigorous implementation of economic growth, food security and nutrition, and social protection strategies.

Remarkable progress has been made since 2000 in improving primary education indicators: the primary net admission and enrolment rates for 2009 and 2010 are 92.4 and 94.8, respectively. The gender parity index is 0.996, and regional disparities have been almost eliminated except for Ratanak Kiri province in Cambodia’s northeast. All of these are on track to achieve the 2015 CMDG targets.

The major current challenges are to improve the flow rates in primary education. The repetition rate at 8.9 percent and the drop-out rate at 8.3 percent have not changed much in the last 8 years. Targets for Lower Secondary Schools (LSS) cannot be achieved until primary flow rates are improved: LSS net enrolment rate in is only 31.9. And will likely reach only 53 percent by 2015. There are also large regional differences in LSS, but the gender parity index is higher than 1, at 1.120.

The proportion of 6 to 14 year old children out of school is off track to achieve its 2015 target and as a result, progress in youth literacy is lower than expected at 87.5 percent out a target of 92 percent

Gender parity in upper secondary school is almost on track – at 72.9 out of a projected 74. In tertiary education, however, gender parity is slightly off-track (at 57.5 out of a projected 61.5), but with an accelerating trend. It is expected that both can be achieved by 2015.

The Ratio Literate Females to Males for 15-24 year olds is on track (96 out of planned 95) but for 25-44 year old women, it is off track, which requires some attention as it impacts on poverty, health and education outcomes.

Gender parity in agricultural and industrial wage employment are on track (56 percent and 44 percent respectively), but is off track in the service sector (30 percent). More attention needs to be paid to women in the informal economy, a critical but vulnerable source of livelihood.

Tremendous progress has been achieved in women’s representation in elected positions, both at the commune level (15 percent out of 16.5 percent) and in the National Assembly (22 percent out of 19.5). In appointed positions, progress in deputy positions at the provincial governor (17 percent out of 8 percent) and secretary of state (15 percent out of 11.3 percent) has exceeded current or even final targets. Women are still underrepresented in top decision-making positions, provincial governors (0 percent), secretaries of state (8 percent out of 11.3 percent) and ministers (8 percent out 10.9 percent), where except for the secretary of state level, the situation has not improved or has regressed.

The level of awareness among the general public that violence against women is illegal and wrong has improved substantially since 2005 (from average 41.5 percent to 65 percent in 2009, out of current target of 65 percent) but acceptance of violence still remains high and the availability and use of professional help and legal recourse and also very low.

Reduction of child mortality is the CMDG where most progress has been made and many targets have been reached or exceeded. In 2008, one baby out of 20 died before reaching his/her first birthday. While this number is high, it has been brought down from almost one death per 10 births in 1998. Similarly, under-five mortality, while high, has decreased from 124 to 83 deaths per 1,000 live births from 2000 to 2005, with a 2010 CMDG target of 75. The progress on CMDG 4 has been attributed to the strong performance of the national immunization programme, successful exclusive breastfeeding promotion, improved access to basic health services, an overall reduction of poverty levels and improved access to education and better roads.

However, while overall the situation of child mortality has improved substantially, there are still wide regional variations that need to be addressed. Infant and under-five mortality are still almost double the national average in Kampong Speu, Preah Vihear/Steung Treng, Prey Veng and Mondol Kiri/Ratanak Kiri provinces.

Cambodia still has among the highest rates of child mortality in the region.

Maternal mortality has remained consistently high. The current maternal mortality ratio stands at 461 deaths per 100,000 live births. The ratio is among the highest in the region and has not changed much since 1997. This is due to a number of factors, including the low proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel (increased from 32 percent in 2000, but is still only at 58 percent), the very low rate of use of modern contraceptives (26 percent), the high level of iron deficiency anemia among pregnant women, the inaccessibility of Emergency Obstetrics and Newborn Care (EmONC) to many women and newborns, limited access to safe abortion and low education levels among pregnant women.

While maternal mortality appears not to have progressed much, this is contradicted by the fact that Total fertility has dropped substantially from 4 in 1998 to 3.1 in 2008, almost reaching its 2015 target of 3 and the fact that other data sources indicate a decreasing trend. Maternal mortality is difficult to measure and the 2010 CDHS currently under way should provide some clarity.

The original target of CMDG 5 was to reduce the maternal mortality ratio 140 by 2015, but this has become highly unlikely. For this reason, the government has recently adjusted the target to the more realistic level of 250, which still represents a major challenge. Achieving CMDG 5 would require a significant improvement in access to health care and family planning services, increasing the number of trained health personnel, conducting information campaigns and addressing the inadequate family practices and care-seeking behaviour during pregnancy and childbirth.

Cambodia has achieved internationally recognized success in combatting HIV/AIDS. The government’s 100 percent condom campaigns, supported by coordinated response from development partners, has resulted in a spectacular decrease in HIV prevalence from 1.6 percent in 2000 to 0.9 percent in 2006 (now estimated at 0.7 percent for 2009), a rate far better than the original 2015 target of 2.3 percent, which is now modified to <0.9. Projections show that HIV prevalence is expected to further decline and to stabilise at 0.6 percent after 2010. However, there are now concerns about the resurgence of the epidemic among most at-risk groups – drug users, men who have sex with men and entertainment workers – and an increase of new HIV infections through spousal and mother-to-child transmission.

The major challenges now are to maintain and increase the gains in HIV education and prevention and to reduce the risk transmission among at-risk groups. Gender discrimination must also be addressed to cope with the increasing spousal HIV infections.

Good progress has been made in the fight against malaria, dengue fever and tuberculosis prevlance and case fatality rates, all of which are on track to achieve their objectives, except for TB death rates which requires special attention

In the area of conservation and protection of natural resources, the country has experienced both losses and modest gains. Forests and protected areas have suffered losses (forest cover is 57.59 percent, below the minimum level of 60 percent and protected areas have also suffered losses) because of encroachment, illegal logging and land concessions, and the numbers of rangers protecting them, which were already inadequate, have decreased substantially because of budget cuts due to the financial crisis. On the positive side, legal frameworks and national strategic plans are now in place for natural resource management and the numbers of community based forestry (390) groups are steadily increasing, thus involving an increasing number of people in the protection and sustainable management of their resource base. The formal registration process of these groups is slow and must be accelerated.

The proportion of households dependent on fuelwood has not decreased as planned and remains very high (Census estimates 88.6 percent, 91.3 percent with charcoal).

In the Fisheries sector, the number of community fishery groups (CFi) has increased from 246 in 2002 to 469 in 2010, out of which 246 are registered. Here also the registration process must be accelerated. The establishment of fish sanctuaries is on track at 46,600 hectares out of a current target of 46,000 hectares.

Both rural water and sanitation are on track to meet the targets set in 2003, (water 39.3 percent out of 41 percent) and sanitation (23.2 percent out of 23 percent) and while the 2015 target for rural sanitation was recently increased to 33 percent, both targets are should be revised upwards to conform to the intent of the global target of halving the proportion of people without access to safe water and sanitation. Both urban water and sanitation have exceeded their current targets (water 54.4 percent out of 53 percent and sanitation 81.5 percent out of 67 percent).

In land titling, current progress (24 percent) is below the projected target for 2009 (33 percent), but the pace of registration has more than doubled in 2009 to over 400,000 land titles issued. At this rate, it is expected that only 58 percent out of the CMDG 2015 target of 65 percent will be achieved.

Although no specific Cambodian targets have been set for this MDG, the following information is available on Overseas Development Assistance (ODA), trade and information and communication technologies:

ODA to Cambodia has continued to grow, reaching more than US$1 billion in 2010. If this amount is sustained over the next four years, it will meet the RGC’s requirement for external assistance for public investment to reach National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP) targets.

Because of the elaborate coordination framework that has been put in place, with a few exceptions, ODA is generally well aligned and matches sectoral requirements, and an effective mutual accountability system is operational. However, aid is still fragmented and harmonization is lagging. The Royal Government of Cambodia intends to take steps to ensure a much greater net transfer of ODA to poor and vulnerable in rural areas and a generalized move towards sector-wide strategies and harmonized sector-wide support programs. The enormous needs in education, health, agriculture, environmental protection, water and sanitation and demining will require continued high levels of ODA, used with more effectiveness.

Although Cambodia benefits from a regime of tariff free imports by developed economies, it has not been able, like its neighbours to take full advantage of these provisions. A vigorous trade strategy needs to be pursued, in particular by creating favourable conditions for expansion of trade at the sub-national level.

Although the use of mobile phones and the internet have recently increased exponentially (users per 100 population is 47 for mobile phones and 2.1 for internet), they are still far below regional averages. The RGC is taking measures to ensure a continued rapid expansion in the use of these services and their potential for development.

Cambodia has made remarkable progress in reducing casualties from land mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW). The annual number of civilian casualties recorded has fallen from a record 4,320 in 1996 to 243 in 2009, well above the current target of 461.

About 45 percent of an assumed total of 117,798hectares of contaminated land has been cleared. Since the contaminated area is greater than originally expected, this target cannot be achieved by 2015, and Cambodia has obtained an extension to 2019 under the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction.

Addressing the still enormous problem of land mines and ERW will require energetic actions and continued high levels of funding over an extended period.

Almost all elements of a victim assistance framework have now been adopted and implementation is under way. There are no clear statistics about the level of services to landmine/ERW victims. Victim assistance needs to be systematized and better managed.