Urgent appeal for children in Cambodia
Programme

Health and Nutrition

For every child, good health and nutrition

© UNICEF Cambodia/2025/Hadrien Bonn
UNICEF Cambodia/2025/Hadrien Bonn
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Challenge

Every mother, newborn and child has the right to survive and thrive.

Tremendous progress in maternal and child health and nutrition has been achieved over the past decades in Cambodia. More children today enjoy happier, healthier childhoods and receive life-saving vaccinations, while fewer lose their lives to preventable diseases. More mothers in hard-to-reach areas access essential health services during pregnancy and give birth in healthcare facilities. These achievements lay a strong foundation for continued progress in the health and well-being of women and children in the generations to come.

  • Under-5 mortality has reduced by 75 per cent  over the past two decades, with:1
  • Infant mortality decreasing from 95 to 12 deaths of babies under 1 year of age/1,000 live births;2
  • Neonatal mortality decreasing from 37 to 8 deaths of babies within their first 28 days of life/1,000 live births;3
  • And stunting among children under 5 reducing from 50 per cent to 22 per cent.4
  • 76 per cent of children aged 12–24 months are fully vaccinated according to the national schedule.5
  • Fewer children suffer from communicable diseases like TB, malaria, HIV, and measles, acute respiratory infections and diarrheal illnesses.
  • HIV fell from being the seventh most common cause of death in 2009 to being ranked 19th in 2019.6

Challenges

Despite improvements in health and nutrition services, not every child gets the chance to grow healthy and strong. Many children are still missing their routine vaccinations and do not receive adequate nutrition, especially in the critical first two years of life[ . Over the past decade, there has been a decline in the number of babies who are exclusively breastfed during their first six months, which is so important for survival and development. Too many mothers are still dying during pregnancy, childbirth or shortly after giving birth, and many families living in rural areas struggle to reach health facilities or can only receive limited services.

While fewer people die from preventable causes, changing lifestyles, diets and environmental hazards are contributing towards a rise in non-communicable diseases and injuries (NCDIs), which affect both children and their caregivers. More people struggle with diabetes and cardiovascular disease, most of which begin in childhood, are smoking and using drugs, and experience mental health challenges like depression and anxiety. Road accidents and drowning are among the top causes of deaths in children over 5 years of age.

Unlike adults, children cannot control the environment in which they live. Like millions around the world, Cambodia’s children are extremely vulnerable to and impacted by emerging environmental and climate threats, including heat stress, toxic metal contamination and air pollution, which threaten to undo hard-won gains in child and adolescent survival, health and well-being.

  • Maternal mortality decreased only slightly between 2014 and 2021 (from 170 to 154/100,000 live births).7
  • 22 per cent of children under the age of 5 are stunted, a significant drop since 2014, but childhood wasting has remained unchanged at 9.6 per cent.8
  • Childhood overweight doubled from 2 per cent to 4 per cent between 2014 and 2021.9
  • The percentage of “zero-dose”10 children in Cambodia increased from 6 per cent to 8 per cent between 2014 and 2021.11
  • Nearly 1 in 5 deaths among children under 5 is attributable to indoor and outdoor air pollution.12
  • Around half of children aged 0–19 in Cambodia are estimated to have elevated blood lead levels (above 5 µg/dL), a level considered to lead to decreased intelligence in children, behavioural difficulties and learning problems.13
  • Exclusive breastfeeding among children aged 0–5 months declined from 65 per cent in 2014 to 51 per cent in 2021.14
  • Only half of children aged 6–24 months are fed with age-appropriate and diverse complementary foods.15

Solutions

UNICEF Cambodia’s Health and Nutrition Programme for 2024–2028 works towards fulfilling every child’s right to good health and nutrition, as enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

UNICEF works with the Royal Government of Cambodia and partners to strengthen the primary healthcare system in Cambodia so that it can respond effectively to current and emerging health challenges, ensuring all newborns, children, adolescents, women and caregivers—particularly those who are disadvantaged—can enjoy better health and nutrition and live in safer environments.

Build an environment that makes good health and nutrition possible

Improving health systems is one of the most effective ways to transform children’s lives and make large-scale changes for every child’s health at the same time. We engage strategically with the Government to strengthen supply chains, ensuring the availability of lifesaving health and nutrition supplies, and improve access to optimal diets, services and practices,  including lifesaving treatment for children suffering from severe acute wasting. We engage with the private sector to advocate for business products and practices that support optimal nutrition. We help local and national authorities gather evidence and use information effectively—especially in emerging areas such as non-communicable diseases and injuries, climate change, environmental health, and child and adolescent mental health—in order to build child-centred laws, policies, strategies, national standards and guidelines.

Empower communities and create a demand for health

Engaging with existing community-based platforms ensure good health and nutrition can reach people living in hard-to-reach areas. Outreach services in [LE2] communities promote essential practices such as exclusive breastfeeding and nurturing care, as well as underline the importance of consulting qualified health practitioners. Regular health outreach in hard-to-reach communities also give the most vulnerable populations and children access to vital primary healthcare services like routine vaccinations, child growth monitoring and promotion, and treatment of severe acute wasting, ensuring they are protected from preventable diseases. Dedicated health volunteers within communities play a crucial role in promoting positive health seeking behaviours.

Make health and nutrition climate-smart

Children in Cambodia are particularly susceptible to the health effects of climate change and environmental hazards, with harmful pollutants found in the air they breathe, the food they eat and even in some toys they play with. Cambodia is among the countries in Southeast Asia that ranks the highest on ambient pollution, indoor pollution and lead exposure. UNICEF is spearheading initiatives to improve health services available to children and minimize environmental health risks. Efforts include enhancing health facilities with low-pollution, accessible and climate-resilient infrastructure, upgrading medical equipment and WASH facilities, and providing essential training for health staff to help them respond to environmental health threats.

UNICEF actively advocates for policies and regulations that encourage children, young people and their communities to consume eco-friendly, climate-resilient and nutrient-rich foods and reduce the consumption of unhealthy, potentially dangerous or contaminated processed foods. The Fix My Food campaign,  a youth-led movement, is making significant strides in advocating for healthier food environments and has successfully engaged hundreds of thousands of young people online.

  1. United Nations Interagency Group for Mortality Estimate (UN IGME)
  2. CDHS, 2021–2022
  3. CDHS, 2021–2022
  4. CDHS, 2021–2022
  5. CDHS, 2021–2022
  6. Global Burden of Diseases (GBD) of the Institute of Health Matrix and Evaluation (IHME)
  7. CDHS, 2021–2022
  8. CDHS, 2021–2022
  9. CDHS, 2021–2022
  10. A ”zero-dose” child refers to a child who has not received the first dose of the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DPT)-containing vaccine
  11. CDHS, 2021–2022
  12. State of Global Air. (2024). State of Global Air 2024. Health Effects Institute. Retrieved from https://www.stateofglobalair.org/sites/default/files/documents/2024-06/soga-2024-report_0.pdf
  13. UNICEF & Pure Earth. (2020). The toxic truth: Children's exposure to lead pollution undermines a generation of future potential.UNICEF. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/reports/toxic-truth-childrens-exposure-to-lead-pollution-2020. Note: If recent national surveys on blood lead levels are available but not yet included in IHME estimates, UNICEF and Pure Earth recommend prioritizing national data. More details can be found at lead.pollution.org
  14. CDHS, 2021–2022
  15. CDHS, 2021–2022