Project profile

CARE Cambodia works in partnership with other organisations and communities to address the most serious health issues affecting women, and to increase access to quality health services. The district-level primary healthcare system in Cambodia increases the geographical reach of services, however a major obstacle to achieving the Millennium Development Goals for HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria is the very low utilisation of these services, particularly by population groups that are most vulnerable. 

This is due to:

• Cultural and gender norms that inhibit health-seeking behaviours and practices

• Geographical and financial inaccessibility

• Negative perceptions of the standard of care available at public health facilities

 

CARE is working with local and government partners to strengthen a holistic system that promotes community involvement in the health sector, and improves knowledge of and access to improved health service delivery for remote and marginalised population groups. This project complements other initiatives that CARE is implementing within the healthcare sector, such as the Partnering to Save Lives project, which is also working in the same provinces. 

 

Objective

• Strengthening community-level mechanisms for referrals to health centers

• Improving the responsiveness of primary health care facilities

• Increasing community members’ knowledge of client rights and HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis

• Lowering the barriers to access and utilisation

• Improving the policy climate for community-level primary care

 

Key activities

Project activities include:

• Training of village health support groups (VHSGs) and other community-based health volunteers on:  

  • identification of, treatment options, and services available in provincial capital for HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis;

  • client’s rights when accessing healthcare services local planning processes, to influence planning and budgeting decisions of Commune Councils       

• Supporting VHSGs to develop effective referral systems to help villagers access appropriate care at health centers

• Supporting the poorest community members to access transport to health facilities through cooperation with existing health equity funds.

• Facilitating community feedback to improve healthcare services through the use of community scorecards and regular action plans

• Providing seed funding for interested commune councils to establish village emergency referral services (VERS) for the most remote communities

• Support Commune Councils to plan and budget for costs incurred to support community representatives to attend VHSGs and health centre management committee (HCMC) meetings and forums