2010 saw Cambodia presented with a Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Award for its national leadership, commitment and progress towards the realization of Goal 6 - combating HIV, malaria and other diseases. The award recognizes that Cambodia is one of the few countries to have achieved its Millennium Development Goal of halting and reversing the spread of HIV. HIV prevalence has fallen from the heights of 2% in 1998 to an estimated 0.6% in 2011.

This decline in HIV prevalence is widely attributed to a rapid and coordinated response by the government in collaboration with non-government and civil society organizations. Although there have been strong gains made in reversing the epidemic, trends will remain fragile if high prevalence persists among sub-populations of entertainment workers (EW), men who have sex with men (MSM) and injecting drug users (IDU). There is a general consensus that there is a real risk of a second-wave of HIV infections within these groups. The primary driver of Cambodia’s HIV epidemic continues to be heterosexual transmission between entertainment workers and their clients and other sexual partners.


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