Why is it that history repeats itself all over the world again and again? According to the Chinese News agency Xihua, “Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered on Monday to halt condom advertisement on televisions, saying that he does not feel the advertisement help curbing the spread of HIV/AIDS, but a promotion of condom sales.”
And why? No guess.
“On several occasions, Hun Sen has criticized TV spots for some parts, damaging the country’s culture, tradition and even considered harmful to public health.”
But according to the Avert Website, “Cambodia’s national HIV prevalence …

Children playing in the centre of Phnom Penh. Prohibitive school fees are one of the reasons children do not attend school, notwithstanding the bribe requested by corrupt teachers to let pupils in.
Photo (c) peripheries

Prostitution and sex work are particularly difficult subjects to comment on. They are heavily loaded with emotional and often irrational charge especially when trafficking and children are taken into consideration. I would usually leave these topics to more qualified commentators such as Laura Agustin, but I’ll make an exception when HIV is involved.
What prompted this posting is …

The expression “thinking outside the box” is one of the most ridiculous fad (common amongst idealist) I have ever heard and I uncontrollably cringe each time I hear it. Thinking outside the box is leading nowhere. Imagine you are lost in the middle of the Sahara with no water and no food, no amount of thinking outside the box if going to help you…
Great discovery and progress were made because people were thinking within the box. They knew the box very well and that’s why they could come up with …

Alex in Phnom Penh
©peripheries

In a comment published in the Phnom Penh Post, independent consultant Michael De Guzman, put forward a few reasons why interventions aiming at reducing HIV infection and transmission amongst Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) are failing in a developing country such as Cambodia where an uncovered epidemic is brewing and growing.
For Guzman, interventions are not working because MSM have been generally ignored by Behavioural Sentinel Surveillance study. Then, when working groups are finally convened they are mostly comprised of government representatives, rarely willing to hear …

Bar Street, Siem Reap, Cambodia
© peripheries

IRIN reports how recent legislation against human trafficking introduced by the Cambodian government early this year, is shifting sex work from brothels to bars and karaokes leading to the development of new sexual behaviours increasing the spread of the HIV infection.
Like Thailand, Cambodia’s fight against HIV became another success story when back in 2001 Prime Minister Hun Sen endorsed a 100% condom policy for sex workers. Prevalence amongst sex workers plummeted from 45.8% in 1998 to 12.7% in 2006.
But earlier this year, under US pressure, …