Cambodia is still today one of the poorest countries of Asia, and the overall level of the local medical infrastructures reflects its economic distress. The country has no facility dedicated to reparative surgery and the treatment of third degree burns. A gap that will shortly be filled, by the development of a portion of the Preah Kossomak Public Hospital in Phnom Penh, thanks to the action of the NGO HumaniTerra, based in Marseille.
The organization is no novice: it has regularly taken action in difficult contexts, particularly in Haiti, Cape Verde and Bangladesh. Its projects include the recent creation of a center for third degree burns in Herat, Afghanistan, with the backing of the Veolia Environnement Foundation.
In Cambodia, the initial idea was also to build a completely new facility. To maximize its chances of success, HumaniTerra reviewed its strategy and finally decided to settle for the Preah Kossomak Hospital, which already has a traumatology ward and another for dermatology. The project will therefore address a three-fold objective: create a new ward, optimize existing units, and train local medical teams in new techniques.
