1-U=U at government/national level

No information available.

2-Sensitization/ Training of ​PLHIVs, community advocates, service providers and/or CBOs ​

No information available.

3-Incorporating U=U messages in relevant community outreach, education info and social media campaigns

No information available.

4-Country Challenges and Barriers

Challenges experienced in the roll-out of PrEP in Cambodia have ranged from lengthy PrEP enrolment processes (which have now been improved), to tackling the misconceptions surrounding PrEP, in addition to COVID-19-related challenges, such as limited health provider capacity.

The common concern for both policy makers and HIVST testers in introducing HIVST is the operational cost, especially the cost of HIV kits. UNITAID/WHO assessment of the market landscape in 2016 estimated that the price of HIV RDTs for self-testing in low and middle income countries ranged between US$3 to US$16 (for research purpose). 

The Joint Unitaid Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) considers gay men and other men who have sex with men, sex workers, transgender people, people who inject drugs and prisoners and other incarcerated people as the five main key population groups that are particularly vulnerable to HIV and frequently lack adequate access to services.                                                                                                                                     

Source: Aidsdatahub.org

In Cambodia, the key population groups participate in policy/guidelines/strategy development related to their health. This is possible because there is no punitive law for LGBTI people and there are no specific legislations related to criminalization of same sex sexual acts. Sex work is not criminalized in Cambodia either though there is other punitive and/or administrative regulations of sex work. And even though there is compulsory detention for people who use drugs, there is no death penalty for people convicted of drug related offences. 

Despite this, there are other barriers that hinder the uptake of HIVST in the country. For instance, in a qualitative study conducted in Cambodia[iii], barriers to obtaining HIVST for the MSM community included a lack of knowledge surrounding cost, access, administration technique, reliability, as well as shyness, discrimination, and absence of Khmer translation for the instructions.