Health Situation

Survey participants reported that 60% of the community was in “poor health”, 30% of the community was in “average health” and only 10% of the community was in “good health.”  The criteria for poor health was people who are sick nearly every month, go to the health center very often and spend a large portion of their income on treatment.  These families do not have enough to eat.  They need their children to stay home and take care of the family rather than going to school, and their ability to work is impaired because of their poor health.  Satisfactory health means people who have a decent standard of living, go to health center only one

As there is no large hospital nearby, the community relies on the Pong Teuk health center to meet its health care needs. The center suffers from a shortage of physicians, medicine and trained staff, which is due to a lack of funds to provide health staff with a salary and medicine for treating the sick.

The most common illnesses affecting the villagers in Pong Tuek commune include respiratory infections and irritation (due largely to exhaust fumes and the burning of plastic), cholera, stomach worms, malaria, and typhoid. These diseases typically mainly affect elders, children and adolescents.

Children seem to fall ill most often between May and December each year. A major health concern for the villagers is bacteria-borne illness linked to the drinking of untreated water collected from their rainfall catchments, wells, or small canals dug around their houses. Open standing water catchments are also breeding grounds for mosquitoes, which spread dengue fever and malaria.

Illnesses and the inability to pay for treatment combine to become a primary cause of borrowing from moneylenders at exorbitant interest rates, which leads to the selling off of assets and the deepening of poverty.

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