'Alarming' HIV rate in transgender women in Cambodia.
Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2016 8:53 pm
Full article: http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/s ... n-cambodiaStudy finds ‘alarming’ HIV rate among transgender women in Cambodia
Mon, 1 August 2016
Sen David and Yesenia Amaro
A new survey has revealed that the HIV prevalence rate among transgender women in Cambodia stands at a 5.9 per cent – a rate NGO leaders working on the issue called “alarming”.
The findings of the first-of-its-kind comprehensive survey were released on Friday by the National Centre for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology and STD Control (NCHADS) and the health NGO KHANA.
A total of 1,375 transgender women from 13 provinces participated in the survey. The three provinces with the highest prevalence rates were Banteay Meanchey, with 11.7 per cent; Siem Reap, with 11.3 per cent; and Phnom Penh with 6.5 per cent.
Choub Sok Chamreun, director of KHANA, said although the overall prevalence rate for this group was not bad compared to other countries in the region, it was high compared to the prevalence rate among the general population within the country, which stands at just 0.6 per cent.
“It’s quite alarming,” he said.
In 2012, the prevalence rate for the same group stood at 4.2 per cent. Although, Sok Chamreun said the methodology for that year’s survey was different, and therefore, couldn’t be compared.
But the findings of the new survey indicate that transgender individuals could be at increased risk. For instance, only 45 per cent of participants had been reached by NGOs with intervention programs in the past three months.
Condom use also remained low, and hormonal therapy was being used without medical guidelines and was often self-administered, Sok Chamreun said. Additionally, only 48 per cent of those with HIV were receiving treatment...
