STUNG TRENG

STUNG TRENG WAITING HOUSE PROJECT 2007

CRY’s first Waiting House project was established in Stung Treng in 2007, with the aim of influencing a better health care system and giving better access to women and children with the aim of reducing maternal and infant mortality rates. CRY also contributed to the development and refurbishment of waiting rooms in four health centres in the Stung Treng province. This enabled women from far-out villages to come to health centres, giving them somewhere comfortable to stay and rest after having their babies. Transport was another issue, and CRY was able to provide motorbikes for midwives, enabling them to travel to women in the villages to provide health education and antenatal care, encourage them to use the health facilities available to them in the district.

Maternal and infant mortality rates reduced drastically as a result of CRY’s work and this programme has now been accepted and become one of the Fast Track Initiatives of the Ministry of Health, to try to reduce maternal and infant mortality rates in Cambodia.

A CLOSER LOOK AT STUNG TRENG

Stung Treng province is located on a high sandy bank of the Mekong River, where it is joined by the Se Kong River in the North East of Cambodia. It covers an area of 11.92 square km² and it is about 481km from Phnom Penh.

Stung Treng province has five operational districts, 34 communes and 128 villages, and the total population of the province is 130,000. The population density is 8 people per 1 km².

The capital of Stung Treng province is called Stung Treng city, which is a major city and has a population of 30,000 or about 30% of the provincial population. The population is made up of a mix of Khmer and Laos people. The main sources of income are farming, fishing, rice growing, hand craft and small market businesses.

Stung Treng is one of the poorest areas in Cambodia. It is also where maternal and infant mortality rates are the highest in Cambodia. The main reasons for this are extreme poverty, malnutrition and lack of access to health centres in the villages.

BREAKDOWN OF WAITING HOUSE ACTIVITIES AND FUNDED COSTS

DATE	ACTIVITY	COST	RESULT
2006/2007	Building a Waiting House for pregnant women with complications	£16.500 - Grant funding	Reduction in maternal and infant mortality rates
2006/2007	Admin, travel and overnight stay in the village	£1,000	To manage the project
2007	Health centre refurbishment	£1,500 - Grant funding	Increasing access to the local health centre for the women and children
2007	Equipment/furniture for the Waiting House	£1,000 - Grant funding	Women and their partners and children could stay comfortably in the Waiting House
2007	Three motorbikes for midwives in three health centres	£1,000	Midwives were able to visit families in the far-out villages

SUPPORTING SCHOOL CHILDREN IN STUNG TRENG

CRY supports school children with uniforms, reading and writing materials, to ensure that children will be able to access school and continue to enjoy education.

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