Cambodia is one of the poorest countries in the world, having suffered the devastating effects of genocide during Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge regime (1975-79). Several million people, representing 20%-25% of the population, died as a result of mass executions, disease, exposure, and starvation during the regime. Educated people were systematically eliminated, especially doctors and teachers. At the end of the regime all but 40 of 4,000 Cambodian doctors had either perished or fled the country left to serve 11 million. According to the national census there are 16 physicians in Cambodia for every 100,000 people compared to an average of 250 doctors per 100,000 serving USA citizens.

Cambodia’s economy and infrastructure was left in tatters. As a result, recovery has been slow and difficult. All of this took place in a country already confronted by drought conditions, occurring four-to-five months of each year, and flooding during the monsoon season the rest of the year. Through it all the Khmer people have struggled to survive, trying desperately to rise up from the ashes. Cambodia remains one of the poorest countries in the world. With no infrastructure, the Cambodian people are forced to get by, day to day, on as little as 25 cents. Access to water and sanitation, an adequate food supply, education, and economic opportunity is a challenge millions of Cambodians continue to face every day. Currently one out of every seven children dies before the age of five, many from preventable water-borne diseases. *World Bank statistics – July 2006

But with the help of Non-Government Organizations (NGO’s), such as the Trailblazer Foundation, progress is being made.