Student Stories

Led by Dr Cecilia Teng and Dr Siyan Yi, an eclectic group of 22 students from 10 different countries embarked on a week-long excursion to Cambodia. The trip was hosted in partnership with the Khmer HIV/AIDS NGO Alliance (KHANA) and led by Mr Pheak Chhoun, Research Fellow at the KHANA Center for Population Health Research.

Through our visits to the Ministry of Health, hospitals and health centres across the country — from its capital, Phnom Penh, to the poorest region, Siem Reap — we became aware of the health disparities between different demographics. We witnessed varying conditions and resources, from large national hospitals to a small health centre atop a mountain, and I learnt that beyond medicine, health is comprised of various social, economic, cultural and political factors. The Cambodian public health system emphasises a people-centred approach to mobilise and empower communities, which we experienced through KHANA’s community-based HIV/syphilis rapid testing and tuberculosis peer-network programme, MoPoTsyo’s diabetes peer-educator network programme, and village malaria workers at the Khnong Phnom health centre in Siem Reap.

Above all, the one lesson I’ll remember from this trip is that beyond prescriptive medical interventions, policies and language barriers, each human being, regardless of one’s position or status in society, requires and deserves a healthy and fulfilled life.