Cambodia’s economy grew at almost 10% per year between 1998 and 2008. Although this remarkable growth was interrupted by the global economic downturn in 2008-09, Cambodia staged a strong recovery in 2010 and 2011, with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 6.0%. This growth momentum is expected to further increase to 6.6% annually in 2012 and 6.7% in 2013, driven by strong exports, private investment, and a solid macroeconomic position.6
The rapid economic growth created employment opportunities which contributed to the decline in poverty headcount from 47.5% in 1993-94 to 34.7% in 2004.
According to the National Health statistic Cambodias population was estimated at 14.31 Million people in 2007. 85 % of the population is living in rural areas1 and not having access to primary health care, among other basic services. To improve this situation, Cambodia's health care system is getting a boost through a program that contracts for better health service delivery in rural areas, which is already proving successful. The new country's health strategy 2008-2015 proposes to scale up contracting programs to reach more of the poor and further improve health care system performance, including independent monitoring and evaluation.2
Since the turn of the century, health system reforms have dramatically expanded access to primary health care. The official number of hospital beds reached in 2007 a total count of 390,319.1
According to the current information of WHO the average annual per capita expenditure on health is about US$ 121 while the annual per capita government expenditure on health reaches only US$17.4
The pharmaceutical market is dominated by imported pharmaceuticals.
Cambodia primarily imports medical products from India, South Korea, Pakistan, Thailand, Australia and Japan3
Cambodia's pharmaceutical market was calculated to be worth US$172mn in 2009 and is expected to hit the value mark of US$234 mn by the end of 2012. BMI forecasts a drug consumption to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.04% in US dollar terms over the next five years to reach a value of US$291mn in 2014. The long range forecast is for the market to reach US$475mn in 2019, equivalent to a CAGR of 10.7% in US dollar terms over the 10- year period.4
Data Sources:
1. Anuual_Health_Statistic_Cambodia_2007.
2. http://www.web-cambodia.com/en/article/Health_care_in_Cambodia-36079.html
3. Cambodia Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Report Q3 2012
4. Source: Cambodia Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Report Q4 2010, Sandler Research: Market Research Reports Database.
5. http://www.who.int/features/2012/tb_cambodia/en/index.html
