Cambodia

With a population over 17.000000 Cambodia had an estimated 76000 people living with HIV (PLHIV) in 2022. This number has fallen from a peak of 83000 PLHIV in 2010. This remarkable decline is mainly due to the decline of newly infected children from 0 to 14 years old. In 2010 there were nearly 6000 children infected in this age group by 2022 that number had dropped to 2000.

In Cambodia in 2022 there were1400 new HIV infections. Around1000 new infections were diagnosed in men (most MSM) around 500 in women. More good news: the number ofAIDS related deaths since 2010 has dropped by 30%.
But the UN target of 90-90-90 has not been reached yet. In 2022 86% of people living with HIV knew their status 86% of them were treated with HIV medication which suppressed the virus for 84% of them. One of the reasons that the target numbers have not been reached is the fact that nearly 18% of Cambodian sex-workers a large key population group avoid healthcare because of stigma and discrimination.
(Source: UNAIDS 2023)

FRIENDS

Cambodia’s National Centre for HIV/AIDS has estimated there are just over 3,000 trans women living with HIV in the country. But 29 percent of LGBT+ people would not reveal their status to anyone, making it hard to get the real figures.

Trans women often have to deal with an accumulation of problems. Most of them are not just transgender, but also sex worker, drug user and HIV-positive.
This list doesn’t mention the violence and the stigmatization most women have to live with. A report by the Cambodia Centre for Human Rights has revealed that just over a quarter of trans women have been raped in public spaces, nearly a third have been sexually assaulted and 43 percent have experienced physical violence.

The Trans women we met showed a courageous lust for life, a big heart for their beloved ones and a funny sense of humour. We are truly grateful for their contribution for Atlas2018.

(Source: Cambodian Center for Human Rights)