Thus, Cambodia lacks even the skilled personnel to effectively improve its administrative, legal, educational, and medical institutions. The quality of the labor force and the quality of life are further affected by high rates of morbidity and mortality and by a relatively high proportion of the population with physical disabilities. Among DMCs, only Lao PDR has a life expectancy as low as Cambodia s 53.4 years. Inadequate health care and limited nutrition is debilitating the population. Stunting is common among children.
Adults frequently lose days of work because of illnesses that are expensive to treat.
Leading causes of death include malaria, acute respiratory infections, tuberculosis, road accidents, and land mines. Furthermore, in 1998, only an estimated 37.0 percent of the urban population and 5.0 percent of the rural population had access to clean water. Because of inadequate fiscal revenues and large security expenditures, public social service expenditures in Cambodia are very low, resulting in the widespread practice of informal user fees in actual social service delivery. These low levels of public funding combine with inefficient public expenditure management to produce a very low quality of social services. Recognizing that human development is both the ultimate goal of and a key factor in achieving sustained economic development, the Government is taking steps to improve social service provision, particularly to the poor.