Contributor:
Dr. Chan Phanna
Country Program Manager
AHF Cambodia
Twenty years ago, Cambodia’s HIV response faced a significant challenge: reaching people most affected by HIV and ensuring that those diagnosed could access treatment and care. In 2005, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) began its work in Cambodia from a single room.
Two decades later, that small beginning has grown into a nationwide partnership supporting more than 55,000 people living with HIV across 42 sites, covering more than 80% of people receiving HIV care in the country.
The journey reflects more than the expansion of a program. It demonstrates what can happen when government leadership, community organizations, health care providers, and international partners work together to bring HIV services closer to the people who need them most.
Bringing HIV Testing Closer to Communities
Since 2011, AHF Cambodia has worked alongside community groups and partner organizations to expand HIV education, testing, and prevention among key populations and communities at heightened risk of HIV infection.
“As an early Global Fund partner, AHF Cambodia advanced its work by strengthening HIV treatment and care services, with a focus on reaching people who faced barriers to accessing care. With additional funding from AHF, we were able to build this foundation and expand into community-led HIV testing and other peer-led services. This progression has helped bring HIV services closer to communities and demonstrated how sustained investment can support a more accessible and community-centered HIV response. This model helped expand access to HIV care and demonstrated a scalable, effective approach for countries across the Global South,” said Dr. Sarath Chhim, Bureau Chief, AHF Asia.
Rather than relying solely on facility-based services, the program has taken testing into communities through peer-led outreach, mobile testing services, and community-based approaches. Mobile testing vans have reached remote communities and border areas where access to health care can be more difficult.
In 2025 alone, more than 39,000 people were tested through AHF-supported activities, helping people learn their HIV status and access care earlier. This community-centered approach is particularly important for people who may hesitate to visit conventional health facilities because of stigma, discrimination, privacy concerns, or distance.
“AHF Cambodia is committed to reaching key populations—especially gay and bisexual men and other people at heightened risk and their partners—by expanding targeted online HIV testing as well as parter testing, ensuring treatment as prevention, and promoting condoms as affordable, effective tools,”
said Dr. Chan Phanna, Country Program Manager, AHF Cambodia.
“By focusing on those most vulnerable, we can sustain Cambodia’s progress and move closer to ending HIV.”
From Diagnosis to Treatment and Staying in Care
Finding people who are living with HIV is only the beginning. The next critical step is ensuring that they are connected to treatment and supported to remain in care.
AHF Cambodia has strengthened referral and linkage systems so that people newly diagnosed with HIV can access treatment as quickly as possible. In recent years, linkage-to-care rates have remained above 90%, helping ensure that the vast majority of people who test positive are connected to treatment services.
This work contributes to the broader goal of treatment as prevention: when people living with HIV are diagnosed, supported to start treatment, and maintain effective treatment, they can achieve viral suppression and prevent sexual transmission of HIV.
As Dr. Chhim Sarath, Asia Bureau Chief, noted, sustaining Cambodia’s progress will require continued support for people already in care, renewed efforts to reconnect people who have been lost to follow-up, and expanded services for communities in remote areas.
Making Sexual Health Services More Accessible
AHF Cambodia’s work also extends beyond HIV testing and treatment. In Phnom Penh, two Wellness Centers, operated in partnership with the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology and STD (NCHADS), provide confidential and nondiscriminatory sexual health services. People can access free HIV and STI testing and treatment, including testing for syphilis, chlamydia, and gonorrhea, as well as PrEP, PEP, antiretroviral treatment, condoms, and STI management. AHF will pilot and advocate for the scale-up of this proven model to address the rising STI burden, generating lessons that can inform effective, community-led responses across Cambodia and other countries in the Global South.
For communities that may experience stigma or discrimination when seeking health care, having a welcoming and confidential service can make the difference between delaying care and seeking it early.
Prevention remains another important part of the response. AHF Cambodia promotes condoms as an affordable and effective HIV and STI prevention tool, alongside HIV testing, treatment as prevention, and other combination prevention approaches. Aligned with the Cambodia Government’s 100% Condom Use Policy (CUP), this model supports a comprehensive STI prevention response by ensuring affordable and accessible services for at-risk communities, particularly as STI rates rise alongside expanded PrEP use.
Beyond HIV: Supporting Health, Rights, and Well-Being
The partnership recognizes that HIV is not only a medical issue. People affected by HIV may also face challenges related to food security, livelihoods, education, stigma, and social exclusion.
Through initiatives such as Food for Health, AHF Cambodia provides nutrition and livelihood support to people living with HIV and vulnerable households. Its Girls Act program supports adolescent girls and young women through health awareness, leadership development, and access to education.
AHF also works with Impulse, a volunteer group of young gay men working to promote healthier sexual lifestyles and challenge social barriers. These community-led approaches help ensure that HIV programming is not simply delivered to communities but developed and strengthened with them.
Twenty Years of Partnership and the Work Ahead
Cambodia has made significant progress in its national HIV response, but the work is far from finished. UNAIDS estimates indicate that the country could still experience close to 1,000 new HIV infections annually, with many new infections occurring among key populations and their partners. Cambodia’s next ambition is even more challenging: reducing new HIV infections to fewer than 250 cases per year by 2030.
For AHF Cambodia, reaching this goal will require continued investment in community-based testing, prevention, treatment, and retention in care, particularly for people who face the greatest barriers to accessing services.
“Cambodia’s progress has been built on strong partnerships and a shared commitment to ensuring that people can access HIV services when and where they need them,”
said Dr. Chhim Sarath, AHF Asia Bureau Chief.
“Sustaining this success requires continued support for clients in care, re-engagement of those lost to follow-up, and expanded services in remote areas.”
From a single room in 2005 to 42 sites today, AHF Cambodia’s 20-year journey shows how partnership can turn ambition into lasting change. The numbers tell part of the story: more than 55,000 people living with HIV support, more than 39,000 people tested in 2025, and linkage to care consistently above 90%.
But behind every number is a person who was reached, tested, connected to treatment, supported to stay healthy, or given the confidence to seek care without fear. As Cambodia works toward ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030, this experience offers a powerful lesson for the region: when services are brought closer to communities and people are placed at the center of the response, progress becomes possible and no one needs to be left behind.
You can learn more about AHF’s work on their official website.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the world’s largest HIV/AIDS healthcare organization, provides cutting-edge medicine and advocacy to more than 3 million individuals across 50 countries, including the U.S. and in Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region, and Eastern Europe. In January 2025, AHF received the MLK, Jr. Social Justice Award, The King Center’s highest recognition for an organization leading work in the social justice arena. To learn more about AHF, visit us online at AIDShealth.org, find us on Facebook, and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok.
