ASIA/CAMBODIA - Food, medicine, and travel expenses to reach hospitals: Caritas-Cambodia assists people with AIDS

Siem Reap (Agenzia Fides) -Caritas Cambodia assists persons affected by HIV/AIDS in this country with the highest infection rate in all South East Asia.
Since 2001, when the Catholic organisation for social service first began activity in the country, it has provided assistance and treatment for some 1,400 infected persons mainly of Buddhist religion like 90% of the population of 14 million among which only about 19,000 are Catholic.
Caritas Community Health Programme to assist persons affected by HIV, the virus which carries AIDS, already operates in two principal cities Siem Reap, 230 km north west of Phnom Penh and Kompong Thom, and hopes to include Battambang next year.
Caritas volunteers provide HIV+ persons with food aid, medicines and money for travel expenses to reach the nearest hospitals.
Caritas at Siem Reap helps about 600 families with HIV/AIDS patient members by means of a programme of prevention, information and treatment.
UNAIDS 2007 report says that 1.6% of Cambodians aged 15 to 49 are HIV+ and that AIDS has killed about 16,000 Cambodians.
According UNAIDS other countries in the Mekong region with the highest rates of infection in the 15 to 49 age bracket are Thailand 1.4%, Myanmar 1.3%, Vietnam and Laos 0.5% and 0.1% respectively. (AP) (11/10/2007 Agenzia Fides; Righe:23; Parole:266)