Cambodia

The team started by screening HIV patients at the hospital for co-infection and expanded screening to include patients referred by Preah Kossamak hospital’s hepatology department. 

Our malaria research project in northern Cambodia was set up to find ways to eliminate malaria in an area where there is proven resistance to the most powerful antimalarial drug, artemisinin. Our teams also responded to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic in the country between February and June 2020, in which training and technical support was provided in six hospitals.

MSF trained nurses in health centers to screen patients’ history and check if they have symptoms of cirrhosis, a complication of the disease. If they do, they are referred to the district hospital. Otherwise, the nurses initiate treatment with DAAs at the health center. The success of this simplified model of care demonstrated that it could be implemented at primary level across the country, and it has now been adopted into the Ministry of Health’s clinical guidelines.

In five years, more than 19,000 patients have been treated for hepatitis C in Cambodia, thanks to this new treatment and model of care. MSF will remain engaged beyond 2021 with the authorities within a coalition of organizations called the Hepatitis C PACT, which aims to expand access to testing and treatment for hepatitis C in Cambodia and other low- and middle-income countries.