Cambodia's Children - 3

Education
The children of Cambodia have very limited education, as the country is still recovering from the civil war that plagued them for many years after the Khmer Rouge regime. In education, at each successive level the student dropout rate grows increasingly large. In fact, more than 30% of the population is illiterate. [1a]

The primary school enrolment figure stands around a low 65%, meaning that 35% of children are never enrolled in a school, so receive no formal type of education.

Although many children enrol for school, the attendance levels still low. Only 66% of boys and 65% of girls attend school on a regular basis. Out of all school entrants, around 7% never reach grade 5.

The adult literacy rate for males is around 80%, but the average literacy rate for females is abysmal 57%, meaning nearly half the woman and girls in the country are illiterate. [6]

Child Health
Almost 50% of all Cambodian children are malnourished, and 1 in 8 dies before their 5th birthday. The most distressing thing is that this is largely due to preventable causes.

Although Cambodia 's HIV/AIDS rate has fallen by nearly one-third since 1997, it still has one of the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rates in the whole of Asia . At the moment, there are an estimated 30,000 AIDS orphans below the age of 15 living in Cambodia. 5a

Not only this, but Cambodia experiences over 67,000 deaths a year of children under the age of 5. The infant mortality rate for children under the age of 1 is 97 out of every 1000 live births, and 11% of all children are born with a low birth-weight.

45% of children under the age of 5 in Cambodia are significantly underweight, indicating malnutrition. 13% of these children are cited as having severe nutritional problems. It is shown that 15% of all children below the age of 5 in the country suffer from wasting, and 45% suffer from stunted growth.

In addition to this, the government only finances 7% of routine EPI vaccines and 24% of children under the age of 1 are left un-immunised from Tuberculosis. A further 31% of these children are not vaccinated against DPT3 or Polio. [6a]

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