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Psychiatry in Cambodia: the phoenix rises from the ashes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

James MacCabe
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, PO 63, Institute of Psychiatry, London SE5 8AF, UK, email [email protected]
Ka Sunbaunat
Affiliation:
National Programme for Mental Health, Ministry of Health, No. 151-153, Kampuchea Krom Blvd, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Pauv Bunthoeun
Affiliation:
National Programme for Mental Health, Ministry of Health, Cambodia
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Cambodia is a low-income country in south-east Asia. It covers an area of 181 035 km2 and has a population of 14.5 million, of whom 42% are less than 15 years old. Life expectancy is 56.8 years and 36% of the population live on less than US$0.50 per day. Cambodia experienced a brutal civil war and genocide in the 1970s under the Khmer Rouge regime, during which approximately 1.7 million Cambodians were killed (Chandler, 1999) and the social and medical infrastructure was almost completely destroyed. No mental health services existed throughout the conflict and subsequent Vietnamese occupation, despite the incalculable impact of the Khmer Rouge regime on Cambodians' mental health. The current political situation is more stable, although there remain concerns about human rights abuses (Khan, 2005).

Type
Country Profiles
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits noncommercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists 2007

References

Chandler, D. (1999) Voices From S21: Terror and History in Pol Pot's Secret Prison. University of California Press.Google Scholar
Khan, I. (2005) Open letter on the occasion of International Human Rights Day 2005 raising concern about the state of freedom of expression in the Kingdom of Cambodia. Amnesty International. Public statement ASA 23/006/2005. See http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/cambodia/document.do?id=ENGASA230062005. Last accessed 8 February 2007.Google Scholar
Savin, D. (2000) Developing psychiatric training and services in Cambodia. Psychiatric Services, 51, 935.Google Scholar
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