Children get booster shots at Phsar Doeum Thkov Health Center in Chamkarmon district of the capital in September 2021. Heng Chivoan
The Anti-Covid-19 Cambodia Foundation continues to call on donors to support financially vulnerable households who are still struggling as well as soliciting funds for medical workers who are staffing the front lines in the fight against the disease.
The foundation said more than 10,000 households have already been helped through the provision of groceries and medicines.
Foundation president Hor Sereyvath told The Post that in order to contribute to the government’s fight against the pandemic, he is calling on the public to continue to donate as much as they can to help people in need.
“Although the Covid-19 outbreak has slowed due to our government’s promotion of vaccines, our foundation still welcomes donors who can continue to help and we are organising some more programmes to help people with their basic food needs and to provide advice to households amid these difficult economic circumstances,” he said.
He noted that since the establishment of the foundation about two years ago, it has helped at least 5,000 households with packages of food and has provided packages of medicine to 7,000 others.
“We help families affected indirectly and directly by the pandemic. ‘Directly’ means that their family members were infected with Covid-19 and it resulted in hardship such as a lack of food. ‘Indirectly’ means that their family lost income because of the economic downturn,” he said.
In addition to that, he said, the foundation also gives aid to frontline volunteers as well as authorities from all relevant institutions and provides gifts to orphans as well.
“Our foundation also facilitates assistance to hospitals for combating Covid-19 with donations of face shields, rapid tests, masks, alcohol sanitiser, thermometers and water heaters,” he said.
He pointed out that the establishment of this foundation is to help people who need further assistance beyond the government’s programme to provide cash to vulnerable people during the pandemic.
“The government has helped a lot of the victims, but there are usually gaps and we have helped to fill them,” he said, adding that they always cooperate with the local authorities to target their assistance.
According to Sereyvath, the foundation has more than 60,000 members in its Telegram group. It consists of expert working group to provide advice and notifications related to Covid-19 issues such as vaccination locations and boosting dose provision as well.
Financial records from the foundation indicate that in a period starting April 2021 and running to January, 2022, it has received donations totaling $37,342 and 14,827,400 riel.
The government has implemented a cash assistance programme during the pandemic that is unprecedented for Cambodia. The assistance, which began in June of 2020, has been targeted towards the poorest and most vulnerable Cambodians.
According to the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation, since the implementation of this programme the government has disbursed over $531 million total to help 700,000 households with about 2.7 million members as of its last report on December 7, 2021.
The government recently decided to continue that programme with an eighth round of assistance which will last the three month stretch between January and March 2022.
