The Phnom Penh Post
Wednesday, 09 June 2010 15:02 Brooke Lewis
WOMEN’S Affairs Minister Ing Kantha Phavi is set to tell a global conference on maternal health that Cambodia is not on track to meet its Millennium Development Goal for lowering the maternal death rate.
She will also call for more action on the part of “global leaders” and donors to address the problem, according to a copy of a prepared speech posted on the conference’s website.
Her remarks, prepared for a forum of health and finance ministers from more than 30 countries with high maternal mortality rates at the Women Deliver 2010 conference in Washington, notes that Cambodia is falling behind its neighbours in ensuring safe deliveries.
The national MDG calls for the maternal mortality rate to be reduced to 140 deaths for every 100,000 live births by 2015.
“With a maternal mortality ratio of 461, Cambodia ranks among the highest in the region, and we are not likely to reach our goal,” she states.
The conference, billed by its organisers as the largest ever conference on maternal health, bringing together 3,500 participants from 140 countries, began Monday and ends today.
In her statement, Ing Kantha Phavi cites factors contributing to Cambodia’s high maternal mortality rate, including the limited availability of emergency obstetric care, newborn care, services to ensure the safe termination of pregnancies, midwives and infrastructure.
“The benefits are clear,” she says of heightened attention to the issue. “Keeping women healthy and educated has human rights benefits for women, as well as education, health, nutritional, and social benefits for their children. Society as a whole benefits.”
Chan Theary, executive director of the Reproductive and Child Health Alliance, said she hopes the conference will help focus action from donors and other partners on the issue of maternal mortality.
“I think we need to have a concrete plan and implement this plan,” she said, and added that increased funding is also required.
However she said she is optimistic that the MDG for maternal mortality can still be reached.
“I think right now the government is giving this issue more attention, and that if donors, government and other partners all work together, we can achieve this goal,” she said.
11 June, 2010
Action urged on maternal death ratios
Source: The Phnom Penh Post
Friday, 11 June 2010 15:02 Brooke Lewis
WOMEN’S Affairs Minister Ing Kantha Phavi has called on world leaders to renew and increase efforts to achieve a global goal to reduce maternal mortality rates, saying the issue should be a focus of the G-8 and G-20 summit later this month.
“We jointly raise an urgent call to leaders around the world to take immediate steps to ensure the health, dignity and rights of all girls and women,” she said during a speech on the closing day of the Women Deliver 2010 conference in Washington.
Her remarks were made on behalf of ministers from 30 countries with high maternal mortality rates who participated in the conference.
“The most immediate opportunities to demonstrate our seriousness, are the preparations for the G-8 and G-20 leaders’ summit in late June, and the United Nations high level meeting to review the [Millennium Development Goals] in September,” she said.
The conference, which has been billed by organisers as the largest-ever global maternal health conference, started on Monday and ended on Wednesday.
In her speech, Ing Kantha Phavi outlined a seven-point action plan designed to assist governments worldwide in reducing maternal mortality rates, and emphasised the need for a coordinated international effort.
The reduction of maternal mortality should be placed “at the centre of global health initiatives”, she said.
Alice Levisay, Cambodia’s country coordinator for the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), who represented her office at the conference, said in an email to the Post that Cambodia’s maternal mortality rate of 461 per 100,000 live births was the third-highest among countries in the Asia and Pacific region.
“Many LDCs [least-developed countries] face the same issues, but Cambodia has particular constraints with infrastructure and human resources given its history,” she said.
To meet its MDG, Cambodia must reduce its maternal mortality rate to 140 per 100,000 live births by 2015.
Levisay said she hoped this week’s conference would result in “increased global and political commitment and contributions to achieve” the goal, and that “participating countries would bring back concrete strategies and best practices to apply at country level”.
Friday, 11 June 2010 15:02 Brooke Lewis
WOMEN’S Affairs Minister Ing Kantha Phavi has called on world leaders to renew and increase efforts to achieve a global goal to reduce maternal mortality rates, saying the issue should be a focus of the G-8 and G-20 summit later this month.
“We jointly raise an urgent call to leaders around the world to take immediate steps to ensure the health, dignity and rights of all girls and women,” she said during a speech on the closing day of the Women Deliver 2010 conference in Washington.
Her remarks were made on behalf of ministers from 30 countries with high maternal mortality rates who participated in the conference.
“The most immediate opportunities to demonstrate our seriousness, are the preparations for the G-8 and G-20 leaders’ summit in late June, and the United Nations high level meeting to review the [Millennium Development Goals] in September,” she said.
The conference, which has been billed by organisers as the largest-ever global maternal health conference, started on Monday and ended on Wednesday.
In her speech, Ing Kantha Phavi outlined a seven-point action plan designed to assist governments worldwide in reducing maternal mortality rates, and emphasised the need for a coordinated international effort.
The reduction of maternal mortality should be placed “at the centre of global health initiatives”, she said.
Alice Levisay, Cambodia’s country coordinator for the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), who represented her office at the conference, said in an email to the Post that Cambodia’s maternal mortality rate of 461 per 100,000 live births was the third-highest among countries in the Asia and Pacific region.
“Many LDCs [least-developed countries] face the same issues, but Cambodia has particular constraints with infrastructure and human resources given its history,” she said.
To meet its MDG, Cambodia must reduce its maternal mortality rate to 140 per 100,000 live births by 2015.
Levisay said she hoped this week’s conference would result in “increased global and political commitment and contributions to achieve” the goal, and that “participating countries would bring back concrete strategies and best practices to apply at country level”.
10 June, 2010
Chea Mony Considers Resignation
Thursday, 10 June 2010
Tep Nimol
The Phnom Penh Post
CHEA Mony said Wednesday that he was reconsidering plans to step down as president of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia, saying he had been inundated with requests from members who want him to stand as a candidate in elections scheduled for later this month.
On May 16, Chea Mony announced that he would resign from his position at the end of his current term and would not stand as a candidate in the June 27 elections. He cited health reasons for his decision, and added that a change of leadership could benefit the FTU.
“I want the union to be progressive,” he said. “If we want our country to be progressive we must have a change of leader.”
On Wednesday, Chea Mony said he is still ill and physically weak, but that statements of support he had received had given him “emotional strength”.
“I have a disease, and I have held the position for two mandates already, which means six years,” he said. “In the future I have no will to be president of the union anymore, but now I have received hundreds of letters from workers requesting me to be a candidate for the president election, and the letters encourage me to consider putting myself forward again.”
Cambodian Confederation of Unions president Rong Chhun said he would put himself on the ballot if necessary, but that he would prefer for Chea Mony to continue in the post.
“Nobody wants to be president now because they would like Chea Mony to continue his work,” he said. “We will try our best to push Chea Mony to be president again. If there is no choice, I will do it, but I have not registered my name for election.”
FTU secretary general Mann Seng Hak said people who had originally intended to stand for the role of president had bowed out of the running to “leave space blank for Chea Mony to be president for the next term”.
He added that there are currently no other candidates for the position
Tep Nimol
The Phnom Penh Post
CHEA Mony said Wednesday that he was reconsidering plans to step down as president of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia, saying he had been inundated with requests from members who want him to stand as a candidate in elections scheduled for later this month.
On May 16, Chea Mony announced that he would resign from his position at the end of his current term and would not stand as a candidate in the June 27 elections. He cited health reasons for his decision, and added that a change of leadership could benefit the FTU.
“I want the union to be progressive,” he said. “If we want our country to be progressive we must have a change of leader.”
On Wednesday, Chea Mony said he is still ill and physically weak, but that statements of support he had received had given him “emotional strength”.
“I have a disease, and I have held the position for two mandates already, which means six years,” he said. “In the future I have no will to be president of the union anymore, but now I have received hundreds of letters from workers requesting me to be a candidate for the president election, and the letters encourage me to consider putting myself forward again.”
Cambodian Confederation of Unions president Rong Chhun said he would put himself on the ballot if necessary, but that he would prefer for Chea Mony to continue in the post.
“Nobody wants to be president now because they would like Chea Mony to continue his work,” he said. “We will try our best to push Chea Mony to be president again. If there is no choice, I will do it, but I have not registered my name for election.”
FTU secretary general Mann Seng Hak said people who had originally intended to stand for the role of president had bowed out of the running to “leave space blank for Chea Mony to be president for the next term”.
He added that there are currently no other candidates for the position
Partnership with European Union vital to tackling global challenges – UN official
Source: UN News Centre
10 June 2010
10 June 2010 – No single entity address all global obstacles, ranging from climate change to hunger, a senior United Nations official said today, underscoring the vital relationship between the world body and the European Union in promoting development.
Presenting the latest report on the partnership between the UN and the EU, UN Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Helen Clark stressed that “we can do together what we cannot do alone.”
At the event in Brussels attended by top EU officials – including European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek – Miss Clark thanked the bloc for its support of the UN’s work.
The new report, entitled "Improving Lives,” highlights how the increasingly dynamic UN-EU partnership is making a difference in the lives of tens of millions of people in more than 100 countries.
“While the partnership undoubtedly adds value at the level of international policy and norms, most importantly, it translates these into practical realities on the ground to improve lives,” it says.
The publication cites numerous achievements of UN-EU cooperation, including assistance to people in more than 60 countries recovering from natural disasters or conflict; the clearing of mines from over 150 million square metres of land; and the delivery of food to nearly 14 million people in dozens of nations.
The joint work has also extended to bolstering countries’ election processes and in supporting nations’ efforts to eliminate child labour.
Additionally, UN-EU cooperation made it possible to support the education of 22 million children and immunize more than 8 million young people.
“The UN and the EU are natural partners,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon writes in the forward to the report, with the ultimate aim to translate shared norms and values into “practical realities – above all for the poorest and most vulnerable members of the human family.”
The new report was published just months before world leaders gather at UN Headquarters in New York in September to reaffirm their commitment to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), eight anti-poverty targets with a 2015 deadline.
“The UN and the EU must be able to respond and use the strength of their existing partnership to accelerate their contribution to the MDGs,” the publication – prepared by the UN Office in Brussels – says.
Miss Clark said she is convinced that the partnership will deepen in the years ahead “and that our shared values and commitment to international norms and standards will continue to be put to work in improving the lives of so many around the world.”
10 June 2010
10 June 2010 – No single entity address all global obstacles, ranging from climate change to hunger, a senior United Nations official said today, underscoring the vital relationship between the world body and the European Union in promoting development.
Presenting the latest report on the partnership between the UN and the EU, UN Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Helen Clark stressed that “we can do together what we cannot do alone.”
At the event in Brussels attended by top EU officials – including European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek – Miss Clark thanked the bloc for its support of the UN’s work.
The new report, entitled "Improving Lives,” highlights how the increasingly dynamic UN-EU partnership is making a difference in the lives of tens of millions of people in more than 100 countries.
“While the partnership undoubtedly adds value at the level of international policy and norms, most importantly, it translates these into practical realities on the ground to improve lives,” it says.
The publication cites numerous achievements of UN-EU cooperation, including assistance to people in more than 60 countries recovering from natural disasters or conflict; the clearing of mines from over 150 million square metres of land; and the delivery of food to nearly 14 million people in dozens of nations.
The joint work has also extended to bolstering countries’ election processes and in supporting nations’ efforts to eliminate child labour.
Additionally, UN-EU cooperation made it possible to support the education of 22 million children and immunize more than 8 million young people.
“The UN and the EU are natural partners,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon writes in the forward to the report, with the ultimate aim to translate shared norms and values into “practical realities – above all for the poorest and most vulnerable members of the human family.”
The new report was published just months before world leaders gather at UN Headquarters in New York in September to reaffirm their commitment to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), eight anti-poverty targets with a 2015 deadline.
“The UN and the EU must be able to respond and use the strength of their existing partnership to accelerate their contribution to the MDGs,” the publication – prepared by the UN Office in Brussels – says.
Miss Clark said she is convinced that the partnership will deepen in the years ahead “and that our shared values and commitment to international norms and standards will continue to be put to work in improving the lives of so many around the world.”
07 June, 2010
US selects Cambodia as a focus country in food aid programme
Photo by: Heng Chivoan
Typhoon Ketsana destroyed hundreds of homes – including this one in Kampong Thom province – and spurred nationwide concerns about food security last year.THE United States has selected Cambodia as one of 20 countries to receive part of a multi-billion-dollar package to combat hunger by promoting farming and agriculture, government and US officials said Sunday.
The US will funnel at least US$3.5 billion over three years into the “Feed the Future” plan, US Agency for International Development (USAID) head Rajiv Shah said Thursday in Washington.
“Agricultural development is a springboard for broader economic development, and food security is the foundation for peace and opportunity and, therefore, our own national security,” Shah told a symposium on agriculture and food security.
Cambodia is one of four focus countries in Asia, along with Bangladesh, Nepal and Tajikistan.
US embassy spokesman John Johnson said Sunday it was too early to comment on the specifics of the plan.
“Cambodia has been selected as a focus country,” he said. “There will be discussions with the Cambodian government and NGOs, but it’s really too early to speak on the specifics. It’s a huge project.”
He also could not comment on the amount of financial assistance that Cambodia would receive. “Again, it’s still too early,” he said.
Srun Darith, deputy secretary general for the Council of Agriculture and Rural Development, also said he was unsure how much funding Cambodia would receive, but acknowledged that the money would be “very important for Cambodia”.
Summit to focus on maternal mortality
Source: The Phnom Penh Post
Monday, 07 June 2010 15:02 Irwin Loy
Experts study methods to reach elusive target
CAMBODIAN officials are in Washington this week for a major global conference on maternal health – an issue that has confounded experts struggling to reduce the number of women who die giving birth in the Kingdom.
A delegation including Women’s Affairs Minister Ing Kantha Phavi is scheduled to attend the conference, which is being hosted by the advocacy organisation Women Deliver.
“All research shows that it pays off to invest in women,” Jill Sheffield, president of Women Deliver, said in a press release. “But they need to be healthy and alive to thrive.”
One of the key messages organisers will push at the conference is that reducing maternal mortality is achievable, as long as the proper investments are in place.
A 2009 study by the Guttmacher Institute, a US-based health research organisation, estimated it would cost an extra US$12 billion worldwide this year to meet existing needs for family planning and maternal care – roughly double what is currently spent.
Authorities here have faced major challenges in reducing the maternal mortality ratio (MMR), part of a key Millennium Development Goal, or MDG.
The Kingdom’s official MMR figure stands at 461 deaths for every 100,000 live births, still far short of the target of 140 the country is supposed to reach by 2015.
New numbers
This week’s conference will also involve discussions of a study released in April that surprised health experts working to reduce the MMR.
The study, which was published in the medical journal The Lancet, used new methodology to suggest that there has actually been a “dramatic” drop in the rate of women who die during pregnancy and childbirth, both worldwide and in Cambodia.
The research pegged Cambodia’s MMR at around 266 deaths for every 100,000 live births, a figure that was met with some scepticism from health experts here.
And unlike the official census-based MMR used by the government, the study suggested that Cambodia’s MMR is on a downward trend.
Christopher Murray, the study’s co-author and director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, said he believes refined research methods and more thorough data have contributed to the differing figures.
“The main reason our estimates differ from official government estimates, both in Cambodia and elsewhere, is that we are using a broader range of data, not just data that comes from the government,” Murray wrote in an email response to questions.
Murray, who will be speaking at the Women Deliver conference this week, said the study also uses re-estimated adult mortality figures.
Even though the study suggests that the MMR has actually improved in Cambodia, the country remains perilously close to missing its overall maternal mortality reduction goal, he said.
“For Cambodia to achieve the MDG goals for maternal and child mortality, it would have to greatly accelerate its rate of decline in both areas,” he said. “Very few countries have been able to achieve this type of acceleration.”
Monday, 07 June 2010 15:02 Irwin Loy
Experts study methods to reach elusive target
CAMBODIAN officials are in Washington this week for a major global conference on maternal health – an issue that has confounded experts struggling to reduce the number of women who die giving birth in the Kingdom.
A delegation including Women’s Affairs Minister Ing Kantha Phavi is scheduled to attend the conference, which is being hosted by the advocacy organisation Women Deliver.
“All research shows that it pays off to invest in women,” Jill Sheffield, president of Women Deliver, said in a press release. “But they need to be healthy and alive to thrive.”
One of the key messages organisers will push at the conference is that reducing maternal mortality is achievable, as long as the proper investments are in place.
A 2009 study by the Guttmacher Institute, a US-based health research organisation, estimated it would cost an extra US$12 billion worldwide this year to meet existing needs for family planning and maternal care – roughly double what is currently spent.
Authorities here have faced major challenges in reducing the maternal mortality ratio (MMR), part of a key Millennium Development Goal, or MDG.
The Kingdom’s official MMR figure stands at 461 deaths for every 100,000 live births, still far short of the target of 140 the country is supposed to reach by 2015.
New numbers
This week’s conference will also involve discussions of a study released in April that surprised health experts working to reduce the MMR.
The study, which was published in the medical journal The Lancet, used new methodology to suggest that there has actually been a “dramatic” drop in the rate of women who die during pregnancy and childbirth, both worldwide and in Cambodia.
The research pegged Cambodia’s MMR at around 266 deaths for every 100,000 live births, a figure that was met with some scepticism from health experts here.
And unlike the official census-based MMR used by the government, the study suggested that Cambodia’s MMR is on a downward trend.
Christopher Murray, the study’s co-author and director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, said he believes refined research methods and more thorough data have contributed to the differing figures.
“The main reason our estimates differ from official government estimates, both in Cambodia and elsewhere, is that we are using a broader range of data, not just data that comes from the government,” Murray wrote in an email response to questions.
Murray, who will be speaking at the Women Deliver conference this week, said the study also uses re-estimated adult mortality figures.
Even though the study suggests that the MMR has actually improved in Cambodia, the country remains perilously close to missing its overall maternal mortality reduction goal, he said.
“For Cambodia to achieve the MDG goals for maternal and child mortality, it would have to greatly accelerate its rate of decline in both areas,” he said. “Very few countries have been able to achieve this type of acceleration.”
UN vows to help govt trade better
CAMBODIA risks falling behind its regional partners in trade if it does not adapt to the highly-competitive world of global commerce, officials said Wednesday at the close of a two-day trade-facilitation workshop, where the UN’s Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) pledged to help identify cost and time bottlenecks that could mean the difference between commercial success or lost contracts.
While acknowledging the garment industry’s importance as a source of exports, Bangkok-based ESCAP Trade Facilitation Chief Shamika Sirimanne singled out the Kingdom’s agriculture sector as being “key to trade”, but an example of how exposed Cambodia is to barriers to commerce.
“Seventy-five percent of Cambodians are farmers and that’s largely where the poor also are,” Sirimanne said.
“We’ve heard how difficult it is to do [cut down costs and time], but trade facilitation is necessary – there is no choice. It looks really big but we can break it into smaller pieces – pick the key products and break it down into bite-size problems,” she added.
Sirimanne said concrete initiatives resulting from the workshop included a capacity-building session to be held next month where ESCAP would “train the trainers” to identify cost and time obstacles to trade.
Secondly, she said, ESCAP would sponsor a study tour for government officials to observe trade procedures in neighbouring countries. That announcement followed presentations from India, Thailand and Malaysia, whose officials discussed what policies worked and what did not.
She underscored Cambodia’s position in a “trading region” surrounded by fierce competition by referring to an earlier presentation from the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia (GMAC), which has been battling a steady decline in business and factory closures after the global economic crisis took hold of one of Cambodia’s most crucial economic drivers.
GMAC Secretary General Ken Loo told the workshop that profit margins had dropped 20 percent per annum for the last five years, and that demand for quality and shorter lead times were only getting stronger.
“The major challenge of our industry is buyers no longer ask for a quote – they dictate the lead time and the price, and there’s very little room for negotiation,” he said.
“They base the price on other countries, and if you can match it or better it, they give you the business, if not, they don’t.”
He told the delegates it was not enough to think business practices were acceptable because it was how things had been done for 10 years.
“Sometimes half our production time is spent producing nothing,” he said. “We cannot afford the leakages anymore.”
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