Joint Annual Performance Review 2007 - Ministry of Health

Opening Remarks by
Dr Michael J. O’Leary, WHO Representative
on behalf of Health Partners
Joint Annual Performance Review,
5 th March 2007
Y.E. Keo Puthreasmey Deputy Prime Minister,
Y.E. Nuth Sokhom, Minister of Health,
Y.E. Secretaries of State for Health,
Distinguished guests, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen
I am honoured and very pleased to be here today to make a few remarks on behalf of the
Health Partners, at this opening of the National Health Congress and Joint Annual
Performance Review 2007.
During 2006 the Ministry of Health has achieved good progress in addressing the many
challenges it faces in the health sector. At last year’s JAPR, five priority areas were identified
for the coming year, focusing especially on child survival and reproductive health. These are:
• emergency obstetric care;
• attendance at delivery by trained health providers;
• implementation of the Child Survival Scorecard interventions;
• full MPA status at health centers; and
• reproductive health including birth spacing services.
Joint Monitoring Indicators to track progress are concerned with:
• the improved and timely disbursement of funds in the health sector;
• greater access in the community to midwifery services;
• skilled attendance at deliveries;
• tracking of the numbers of health centers with full MPA status, and
• the increased use of health facilities in the public sector by the population at large.
The draft JAPR report indicates a number of clear achievements in these and other areas. For
example, the use of health services and the attendance of public health staff at deliveries has
increased; a wide range of behaviour change messages were made known through the media;
and the timely release of funds from an increased budget has improved. The drafting of a
Merit Based Pay Initiative, an Institutional Development Report, and a National Strategy for
the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Disease; plus the finalization of the
Guidelines for the Complementary Package of Activities are a few of many accomplishments
that will contribute to further improvement of health sector performance.
This progress is also reflected in the health status impact data that have been generated by the
Cambodia Demographic and Health Survey, or CDHS 2005. For example, the results in the
preliminary report showed antenatal clinic attendance almost doubled. The Total Fertility
Rate is reduced. Preliminary unofficial information from the final CDHS also suggests that
HIV prevalence may have declined amongst adults 15-49 years of age. This shows what
Cambodia can accomplish if the political will and financial and human resources are
adequately mobilised by both government and development partners.
Gains in child survival are especially encouraging, with a decrease of more than 30% in infant
and under-five mortality. Two-thirds of children between 12 and 23 months of age are fully
vaccinated, and 60% of children are exclusively breastfed during their first six months. Major
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