HIV/AIDS community on the outskirts of Phnom Penh

On Thursday, June 28, Cambodian police evicted 20 HIV-affected families from their homes in Borei Keila, a poor neighbourhood near the Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh. Authorities forced families to relocate to six corrugated iron sheds in Toul Sambo district, about kilometres from the city centre.
Families, without resisting, loaded their belongings into about 10 pick-up trucks and climbed aboard for the long, dusty drive to the relocation site. “I don’t know what to do because we are forced to go,” said one 70-year-old resident.
The long-expected eviction came after several months of protests by residents who complained about the relocation sites’ small houses, its exposure to heat and the distance from health care and jobs. “It is like sending us to die” said one former Borei Keila resident. “It will cost us 15,000 riel (about $3.50 USD) just to go get medicine.” Future prospects look bleak for these families, who according to local NGOs live on a daily income of 5,600 riel, or about $1.40 USD.
More HIV-affected families have been relocated to Toul Sambo over the past two months, making the site home to some 55 HIV/AIDS patients according to the Cambodia Daily. Lack of clean drinking, affordability of nutritious food as well as the heat, which affects the quality of the antiretroviral drugs, has seriously deteriorated the health of the community.