Ratanakiri, a remote and isolated province, is located in north eastern Cambodia and bordered by Vietnam to the east and Laos to the north. It is largely inhabited by an indigenous population who have some of the poorest levels of health in the country. Barriers to the population accessing healthcare include a lack of awareness of services available; discrimination by medical staff against indigenous people; and the high cost of services, often due to unofficial fees and transport costs because of the distance of the local health centre.
Health Poverty Action has a long and successful history of working with the indigenous people of Ratanakiri to help them access good quality primary health care.
Understanding their right to health
While our past work in Ratanakiri focused on improving the quality of primary health care services in the province, our current work is helping indigenous people understand their rights to health care and how to exercise those rights. If we can get everyone to understand their health rights and provide opportunities that enable indigenous people to communicate with decision-makers then we are on the right path to making health service gaps disappear forever.
We recently carried out a survey in Ratanakiri which demonstrated that in order for health services to reach villages, three groups of people needed to be aware of their rights and responsibilities: the health department, the local governance structures and community members. Linking villagers, medical staff and the provincial government, the recently established Village Health Support Groups and Health Centre Management Committees play a crucial role in raising awareness of rights and enabling communities to exercise their rights.
Health Poverty Action is working with these groups to enable them to develop villagers’ awareness of their rights to good health, to build their communication skills and to gather and disseminate information. Health Poverty Action staff also work with the groups to ensure that they are able to provide a platform for indigenous people to have their voices heard by decision-makers at local, provincial and national levels.
Last modified: 13/01/2011
