Frequently Asked Questions

What are the main health problems in Cambodia?
Maternal, child and newborn health are the key health issues in Cambodia. The maternal mortality ratio is 472 per 100,000 live births and 56% of women give birth without the presence of a trained staff. The infant mortality rate is falling, but is still 83 per 1000 live births. As the number of overall under-five deaths is declining, mortality in the perinatal and neonatal period is becoming responsible for an increasing proportion of under-five deaths. More than 30,000 children below five years die every year. The main causes of death are respiratory illnesses, diarrhoea and other infections, such as Japanese encephalitis, malaria and dengue fever. Malnutrition is the underlying cause for many of the deaths in children under five.

Why Health Messenger?
Ninety per cent of Cambodians live in rural communities. Road access is still poor in many parts of the country, particularly during the rainy season, when villages can be cut off for weeks. Health workers, such as nurses and midwives, working in such areas have little means of updating their medical knowledge and skills. Medical text books that may exist are usually written in French or English and are often out of date. Health Messenger is often their only regular source of information about health issues written in the Khmer language. It tells them about new diseases such as bird flu as well as allowing them to review their skills in core subjects such as maternal and child health.

To quote one of our readers: "Like frogs living in a pond we don’t get to know how advanced the outside world is until later. It's very difficult to update knowledge here."

What is the format of Health Messenger?
All editions of Health Messenger have a core health topic covered by several articles. The articles provide comprehensive information written in simple language and by using many illustrations and photographs.

Who writes the articles in Health Messenger?
We have a small editorial team, made up of our editor, our associate medical editor and our design manager.

For each issue we also form an Editorial Committee, comprising of sponsors and experts, depending on the topic of the issue. This committee helps to decide on the articles and review the content. Guest writers help to write the information alongside our editorial team. The articles are first written in English and are then translated into Khmer. The Editorial Committee for each issue also includes experts from the Ministry of Health and other relevant government bodies who review the information to ensure that it is in line with national guidelines and policies.

Who is the target audience for Health Messenger?
Health Messenger's core audience is nurses and midwives working in health centres and hospitals across Cambodia. Our research shows that these readers share the magazine with their family, friends, neighbours and community members. It is also read by doctors, dentists and pharmacists, and sold to NGOs, international organizations and other interested parties.

Which language is it written in?
It is a bi-lingual publication, written in Khmer and English.

How is Health Messenger distributed?
Health Messenger is distributed by PSP staff to some provinces and is sent by taxi to others across Cambodia. It is delivered to health centres, hospitals, regional nursing training centres and to other government ministries. Recently the distribution has come to include employees of other departments and ministries besides health staff, i.e. Ministries of Rural Development, Women’s Affairs, Interior, Defence and Social Affairs. Employees of these ministries, working at central, provincial and district level receive their own copy of Health Messenger.

PSP has a precise and detailed system for effective distribution and monitoring through channels created with the cooperation of the Ministry of Health. Our research shows that 96.6% of the distributed issues reach the target readers, even in the most remote health centres.

How is Health Messenger used?
Readers use Health Messenger to refresh their medical knowledge and help improve their daily practice in health centres and hospitals. It is a valuable working reference aid in Khmer as well as a tool for community education on health issues.

How do we measure the effectiveness of Health Messenger?
After each issue of Health Messenger is distributed we conduct a monitoring of the distribution by telephone. During field visits our monitoring staff visits health centres and hospitals, visiting different provinces each time. They check that the copies have been delivered and distributed and interview key staff on how they read Health Messenger and how they use it in their daily work. They also use this opportunity to encourage health workers to use Health Messenger in different ways during their work.

Our most recent monitoring shows that 92% of readers read at least a quarter of the information provided. They also refer to the magazine during their work and use it as a complement to their formal training to update knowledge, skills and practices.

Health workers say they read HM because it helps them increase their knowledge. Seventy-nine percent of respondents said that HM helps them to review their knowledge of health topics. Sixty-five percent of readers said reading HM helps them to improve their work and their English. Ninety-five percent found the written text in HM very clear.