AID grant no. ANE-0102-G-00-1041-00 to CARE to lower infant, child and maternal mortality and morbidity and to insure a better quality of life for persons with disabilities in Baken District, Pursat Province, Cambodia

The project will address the health, nutrition, and rehabilitation needs of children and civilian victims of Cambodia"s civil war. It will be implemented in 40 villages in Bakan District, Pursat Province, in western Cambodia near the Thai border. The project calls for active village involvement. CARE will establish women"s groups in each village and will train 40 community health workers (CHW"s), including 10-16 immunizers, to promote protective health interventions -- including vitamin A distribution, oral rehydration therapy, and health and nutrition education. The CHW"s will also be trained to report common causes of mortality and morbidity in their communities so that a surveillance system can eventually be developed. Thirty midwives and traditional birth attendants, trained by Medicin Sans Frontier, will receive supplementary training to enable them to reinforce the activities of the CHW"s. In ten of the villages, village water committees will be established and water projects undertaken -- hand dug wells and rainwater catchment. The women"s groups formed under the project will also pursue vegetable gardening and, possibly, other income generating activities. Finally, in conjunction with the Hilton/Perkins International Program, CARE will work with the communities and their disabled members to facilitate the integration of the disabled into, and their acceptance by, society.