Russ Martin

The difference maker Russ Martin

This publication is privately-funded for the public good of rural Cambodians. The goal of the Health Literacy Advisor (HLA) platform, a major component of Health: Pathway from Poverty(c), is to improve health and reduce poverty in the inter-generational families being supported in rural Khmer villages. The treatise rests on one strategic premise regarding rural Cambodia: in its totality, as health improves poverty is reduced; vice versa, as health deteriorates, poverty increases - unequivocally and without exception, which is an overstatement for emphasis. Proving the validity of this premise is the basis of the three-year HLA-prototype outlined within the book. In Cambodia, HLAs strengthen environmental-security (92% villages lack sewage-disposal), forge educational-access to health (Cambodia ranks 58 out of 60 nations reporting access to healthcare), build economic-security (nine-million rural families live in acute-poverty) and address energy-security (over-92% villages have no energy access). Cambodia's disposable income ranks 165 out of 176 countries. Cambodia is one of the world's oldest cultures; yet one of its youngest countries. Fifty children under-five die daily from preventable diseases. Over one-third of children are underweight lacking essential micronutrients. One in five will not experience their fortieth birthday. These poverty-stricken villages are home to twelve-million Khmer. Their societal safety nets are patchy, frayed or missing. This is where I work - where chronic poverty is imprisoned by the grip of poor health. It is also where respect runs rampant, the family is deeply honored, spirituality is lived in each moment and friendships are forever.