Cambodia’s health system is in a period of transition as policy innovation and reform
began in 1996. Importantly, the Ministry of Health (MoH) and donor agencies have undergone a
series of policy shifts in an attempt to strengthen the health system in order to provide equitable
access to health care for the population. This paper will describe the health system’s governance,
financing and service delivery functions in regards to their current situation and recent
innovations that aim to improve equitable access to services for the population.
Health systems can be understood as encompassing the supply of services to the target
population based on six functions: 1) service delivery; 2) governance; 3) financing; 4)
pharmaceutical management; 5) information systems; and 6) human resources (Gilson, 2012).
Included within these functions are curative and preventative services through a wide range of
channels of delivery and a complex mixture of service providers. Moreover, the study of health
systems is multidisciplinary, encompassing the fields of “economics, sociology, anthropology,
political science, public health and epidemiology” (Gilson, 2012, p. 21). Therefore, undertaking
a review of the Cambodian health system will incorporate knowledge generated through a
variety of disciplines and approaches.