CORE Group Partners Project Launches Integrated Initiative to Improve Maternal and Child Health, Advance Polio Eradication, and Strengthen Disease Surveillance in Cambodia’s Border Communities

Siem Reap, Cambodia, July 28, 2026 — World Vision International in Cambodia (WVI-C), with funding from the U.S. Department of State and in partnership with Cambodia’s Ministry of Health, has launched the CORE Group Partners Project (CGPP), a US$1.1 million integrated initiative to improve maternal and child health (MCH) services, advance polio eradication, and strengthen community-based disease surveillance (CBS) in Cambodia’s border communities.

The project comprises three complementary components. The MCH component is expected to reach more than 304,000 people across 235 villages, including pregnant women, lactating mothers, and children under five. The polio eradication and Global Health Security (GHS) components will operate across 463 villages in eight districts, covering a target population of more than 545,000 people in Preah Vihear, Banteay Meanchey, and Battambang provinces. These target areas were selected because of their remote settings, highly mobile populations, and strategic importance for improving access to essential health services and strengthening CBS.

Despite Cambodia’s significant progress in improving MCH over the past two decades, many families living in remote and border areas continue to face challenges in accessing essential, quality health care. Long travel distances, seasonal flooding, migration, and population mobility often limit access to maternal and child health services, routine childhood immunization, nutrition services, timely referrals, and disease prevention activities, leaving vulnerable women and children at greater risk.

CGPP works through Cambodia's existing health system by strengthening the capacity of Village Health Support Groups (VHSGs), health centers, Operational Districts (ODs), Provincial Health Departments, and the relevant Ministry of Health structures including National Maternal and Child Health Center and Communicable Disease Control Department (CDC) of Ministry of Health at the national level. Through this approach, the project supports frontline health workers and community volunteers to identify pregnant women, newborns, young children, returned migrants and internally displaced people who may need health services; promote routine immunization and nutrition screening; provide health education; and facilitate timely referrals to health facilities.

The GHS component, implemented in partnership with the CDC, will strengthen CBS by improving early detection, reporting, and referral of priority public health threats including priority zoonotic disease and unusual illness clusters. Polio eradication activities will support routine immunization, the identification and referral of zero-dose and under-immunized children, and surveillance for acute flaccid paralysis and other vaccine-preventable diseases. The project will also strengthen community engagement, outbreak preparedness, and coordination between communities and the health system to support timely public health response, particularly among border and mobile populations.

"The CORE Group Partners Project represents a shared investment in stronger, healthier, and more resilient communities," said Mr. Ny Sopharan, Operations Director of WVI-C. "Through this partnership, we are pleased to support initiatives that advance maternal and child health, polio eradication and Global Health Security, working closely with the Ministry of Health and partners at national and subnational levels."

Mr. Sopharan added that the project marks an important milestone in the ongoing collaboration among the Government of Cambodia, the U.S. Department of State, CGPP, and WVI-C. "More importantly, it marks the beginning of a shared journey to expand access to essential health services, strengthen local capacity for disease surveillance and response, and improve the health and resilience of communities across Cambodia," he said.

Disclaimer

This article is made possible by the generous support from the United States Department of State. The contents are the responsibility of World Vision International in Cambodia and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of State or the United States Government.