“Master’s Programme on Public Health and Research Must Not Require For Only Medical Background Students”

Reading the article on the Cambodia Daily on “Unsafe Abortion Key Factor in Maternal Deaths” on Thursday, Sep. 25, 2008, page 1, which mentioned that unsafe abortions might account for up to a quarter of all maternal deaths in Cambodia (472 deaths per 100,000 live births, 2005 CDHS). Meanwhile, some reasons of this problems include women still go to outside the legal abortion institutions, some midwives have taken the wrong methods in performing abortion, women will often try running long distances and jumping up and down in an effort to shake the fetus loose, and turning to shake remedies when that doesn’t work. However, 101 medical doctors and midwives from all over the country were trained on safe abortion procedures since January.

I think that this secondary care effort of the Reduction in Maternal Mortality Program have not yet succeed enough to survive the women, but we also need more public health workers to involve in providing primary care to intervene before they have got pregnant including family planning, premarital sex among young people through providing health education and promotion in communities and in schools as well as social support and mass medias.

Unfortunately, The Sub-degree on Education in Health Field, passed on 13 March 2007, in Chapter 4, Article 10, and Part 2: Master’s Program on Public Health and Research says: “2.1 Master’s Program on Public Health and Research must study after bachelor in Science of Medicine, Pharmacy and Dentistry, And also in Nurse, in Midwife and other medical fields at least 2 years with 54 credits.” This sub-degree is really discriminated against non-medical background students who want to continue studying Master’s Progamme of Public Health and Research that at the moment the nation needs quality of public health workers to intervene and to research on health issues. On the other hand, this law seems a business completion between universities rather then saving people life or maybe the sub-degree makers thought this program is only for medical background study and either probably the producers missed this point unwilled.

Therefore, the government should reconsider to amend the Article 10, Part 2.1 of the sub-degree to allow non-medical background students to study this field to take part in developing the country which remains poor health.