Our 2027 community focus
Standing beside children and families.
Why AFH has selected the Pediatric Cancer Ward at Kantha Bopha as the focus of its 2027 programme.
In 1992, Swiss paediatrician Dr. Beat Richner returned to Cambodia to rebuild the war-damaged Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospital in Phnom Penh. Kantha Bopha was built on a commitment to provide children with quality medical care, free of charge and without discrimination.
Today, Kantha Bopha operates children’s hospitals in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. The supplied material states that more than one million children and babies seek medical care at its hospitals each year, with treatment provided free of charge.
Kantha Bopha opened its cancer ward in Phnom Penh in 2023.
Why this ward
Childhood should be more than illness.
Children undergoing cancer treatment can spend long periods in hospital, away from school, friends and the everyday experiences of childhood. Illness is part of their lives, but it should not become the entirety of their childhood.
AFH is not a medical provider and cannot cure cancer. The work of treatment belongs to the doctors, nurses and medical staff at Kantha Bopha.
Families also spend long days beside their children during treatment, often putting much of their own lives on hold. AFH’s source material recognises families, doctors, nurses and caregivers as people who should feel seen, valued and supported by the wider community.
AFH’s proposed contribution
Art, play, creativity, education and enrichment.
Through artists, businesses, hospitality and the wider community, AFH aims to create moments when children can simply be children: to draw, play, laugh, learn, imagine and create. The stated aim is to provide experiences and learning that may support children as they return to life beyond hospital.