Cambodia's patient zero: The political economy of foreign aid and avian influenza
Abstract
What happens when a developing country with poor health infrastructure and even poorer
animal health surveillance is thought to be a potential source for the next emerging infectious disease?
This is the story of Cambodia and Avian Influenza. This paper undertakes a review of the relevant
literature and analyzes the results of detailed semi-structured interviews of individuals highly engaged
in Avian Influenza work in Cambodia. First, the political economy context is detailed with particular
attention to aid dependency, tourism and the role of the livestock sector. The role of politics and the
bureaucracy in this context is explored. Three competing policy narratives emerge: first, kill the birds,
but don’t compensate as it’s too difficult and costly; second, behaviour modification change is the
answer; and third, whatever happened to poverty and livelihoods? Finally, the political economy of
the policy process in Cambodia is described, including actors, networks and interests.
The paper finds that in the context of avian influenza, donors are too often motivated by
concerns other than protecting livelihoods, just as traditional aid activities are often dominated by the
need to tie aid to donor countries, avian influenza activities have been overtly focused on detecting
and preventing pandemic as a threat to the donor countries themselves. As of 2008, donors have
committed $35 million to Cambodia, placing it seventh among the top 10 recipients of avian influenza
funding globally, fourth in terms of per case and per death from A/H5N1, and second in terms of per
capita and per outbreak funding.
However, ultimate responsibility for the success or failure of policies in Cambodia must rest
with those in charge. Poor governance and pervasive institutional failure have plagued the response in
Cambodia. Effective disease response and effective governance must go hand-in-hand. A rushed,
emergency oriented response to avian influenza may have undermined already weak governance
capacity in Cambodia, fuelling patronage networks and encouraging rent seeking. Whether such funds
have increased the ability of Cambodia—and the world—to prevent a future pandemic remains
uncertain.
Description
The article of record may be found at https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/21825/
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