US inks deal to provide Cambodia with health, education development

 Bikya Masr Staff | 21 September 2012

BANGKOK: The United States government announced it will provide Cambodia with a $34 million in funding for health and education development in the country as part of two new agreements to be finalized on Friday.

The two agreements were signed by Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, and Flynn Fuller, Mission Director of the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
Under the agreements, USAID will provide a US$33 million fund this year to support and strengthen Cambodia’s national health objectives and another $1 million to support Cambodia’s education objectives.
The funds for health will support a variety of ongoing activities to improve maternal, reproductive, and children’s health; to reduce the transmission and impact of HIV/AIDS; to prevent and control major infectious diseases such as tuberculosis; and to strengthen Cambodian public health systems and support the government’s national health priorities.

The $1 million education fund will go to support ongoing education activities aimed at improving the quality and relevance of basic education and increasing access to schooling for all children, including minorities, people with disabilities, and the very poor.

Activities will also focus on reducing school dropout and repetition rates through improvements in teaching quality, school management training, and measuring student academic achievement.

Daigle said at the signing ceremony that the US assistance in health and education to Cambodia now totaled more than $297 million since 2002.

In a separate press release on Thursday, the US embassy announced that it will also sign an agreement to provide $18.5 million to Cambodia to support the country’s agriculture, food security, and climate change adaptation and mitigation programs.