Cambodia

At Least 82 People in Small Village Found HIV Positive

  • Kong Sothanarith
    VOA Khmer

HIV affected Cambodians sit outside their houses at Tuol Sambo village in Phnom Penh.

PHNOM PENH — 

Cambodian health officials are investigating an alarmingly high HIV rate in a small village in a remote province.

At least 82 people have tested positive for HIV in the village of Rokar, Battambang province, which has only 2,000 people in it.

Health officials say they suspect a healthcare worker in the village used a shared syringe to treat people, spreading the infection.

Health workers have only so far tested about 650 people, said Teng Kunthy, secretary-general of the National AIDS Authority.

Health workers were alerted to the village when an elderly man and woman were found to be HIV positive earlier this month.

Cambodia is aiming for a zero-percent infection rate by 2020. Its current rate is 0.6 percent.