Users’ services feeling USAID cut
Taing Phoeuk, the Khmer-American director of Korsang, glumly brushed the ash from his cigarette on a restaurant balcony overlooking Sihanouk Boulevard. “It’s going to kill us,” he said, contemplating the prospect of his organisation’s demise as its USAID funding evaporates. Founded in 2004 by American Holly Bradford and a handful of Khmer-American returnees, including Phoeuk, Korsang provides drug users in Phnom Penh with health and counselling services – known as harm reduction. The organisation’s goal is to mitigate the effects of drug abuse, while also lowering users’ risk of contracting and spreading HIV. For years, Korsang’s team has been one of the few on the ground working one-on-one with users. But a cut in USAID funding, ironically because the total number of Cambodians living with HIV has fallen, is putting its existence in jeopardy and straining other harm reduction organisations.
