The health of Cambodian immigrants cannot be separated from the political history and the impact of the Khmer Rouge whose rule saw the deaths of approximately 21% of the Cambodian population – 1.7 million people – between 1975 and 1979. A 2005 community survey of Cambodians who had immigrated to the USA before 1993 reported that 99% had experienced near-death due to starvation and 90% had a friend or family member murdered.
Background
Most Cambodians consider themselves to be Khmers and descendants of the Angkor Empire that was the dominant force in Southeast Asia for hundreds of years from the tenth to the thirteenth century. The empire declined over the next 500 years and the country was invaded and sacked by various neighbors, although a monarchy endured. In the nineteenth century, attacks from the west (Thai) and the east (Cham/modern-day Vietnamese) led to Cambodia seeking French protection and becoming a part of French Indochina. Vichy French Colonial administrators were allowed...
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Kenedi, C.A., Shirey, K.G. (2012). Cambodia. In: Loue, S., Sajatovic, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Immigrant Health. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5659-0_110
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